Love Your Limitations!
All of us have our limitations and disabilities that we carry since we were born. And also constraints that people or situations put on us. Here's why you should love your limitations instead!
It’s natural that we see limitations as obstacles.
We think that if we don’t have certain things, abilities, connections, or a certain amount of money, we are useless and can’t do anything good about our life.
Let me give you a new perspective instead.
Think of those limitations as constraints.
And creativity always loves limitations.
Think of a game. The game will have a set of rules and constraints that require you to respect it in order to play the game. The more the constraints, the more it pushes you to be more creative, to think out of the box, and how to win it within those constraints. The popular story of a game is always about how a player can overcome all the constraints and limitations that he has, and be able to make it, win the game!
And that’s what makes the game interesting.
Same with your life. What makes you interesting is that how you can overcome your life with all of those limitations, and still make something good out of it. Your constraints that you carry from the day you were born are the ones that make you special. That’s also why I believe God is always fair.
The constraints require you to be CREATIVE. They push you to be creative in your own version of life.
Let’s learn from the persons with limitations that ever lived, that instead of getting knocked down by life, instead they inspire humanity with their creativity.
Look at Stephen Hawking’s limitations. He had ALS progressively paralyze his body and take his speech. His physical limitation forced him into a life of deep thinking. His mind became his primary instrument. Lots of interesting theories were produced.
Nick Vujicic was born without arms and legs. Instead of seeing his body as a barrier, he reframed it as a platform and witness for humanity. His limitation gave him a message no one else could authentically deliver. His uniqueness became his differentiation.
Helen Keller traveled to twenty-five different countries giving motivational speeches about deaf people’s conditions. You know her constraints? She couldn’t access sight or sound, so she accessed reality through touch. With those limitations she thrived and still was able to finish her education with excellence. Thanks to her, she advocated the mass adoption of Braille and pushed for a standardized, unified Braille system in the United States. Her blindness and deafness did not close her world. They forced her to build a different one.
All of us have our limitations and disabilities that we carry since we were born. And also constraints that people or situations put on us. Constraints of budgets, time, rules of work, and more.
Now you have the new mindset. Do not hate it, or be against it. Instead, see it as a creative challenge.
Limitations reduce distraction.
Usually, what makes people average in life is that they don’t know what to focus on and pursue in life. Thanks to constraints and limitations, they help you reduce distractions. Your options are limited so that you can focus and start winning in your life.
Limitations do not reduce potential. They redirect it.
Constraints are not walls. They are alternative doors.
So from now on, start to love yourself with all the “fixed” constraints and limitations that you have.
What story of creativity do you want to be told about your life?
Love your limitations!