Pushing Past Your Limit
I remember in high school I wanted to try football. I did well academically, but always wanted to test myself to see if I could have some semblance of athleticism in a bigger way than basketball in nearby parks. So I took put football on my high school schedule. It was off-season football, so it was mostly training for the upcoming season.
I sucked at the beginning. Badly. Struggled through most of their routine exercises, and lost all competitions. I got hella embarrassed to the point where I started coming after school to practice and get help.
I remember having 1 completely crazy coach during that time that stood out. He’d say some pretty ruthless things to people, and would often get a lot of pushback and backlash for what came out of his mouth.
One day, we went out to find out our lap times – how fast we could run one lap around the track which was a quarter mile. When it was my turn, I might have gone about half way when I felt I couldn’t keep running, so I started walking. Keep in mind I genuinely felt so tired, I didn’t think I could run anymore….until…
I see him with a super angry face, marching over to me. He then proceeds to scream in my ear. I was feeling so embarrassed. I don’t know what he said…but I do remember running at that very instant again.
It was a pretty out-of-body experience. Where did this energy come from to run? I didn’t think I had anymore left in the tank, but apparently I did? I remember running in a very surreal way…thinking “I’m not supposed to be doing this…but I am”.
I’ll never forget that day, because it was where I really felt like I could push past my limit. All it took was a little embarrassment. Who am I kidding? It took a lot of damn embarrassment.
Pushing Past Your Limits
Is there a limit you feel you have? How can you enlist help to push past it? Maybe you don’t need a crazy coach (or maybe you do?) but is there any way you can get a coach or a mentor to hold your feet to the fire?
You feel differently about yourself after you push past a limit you had in your mind. It changes how you view yourself, and it’s a damn good feeling.
