It Used To Be Easy

It used to be so easy, can be used to define many things. I can think of three right off the top of my head. It used to be so easy when I was healthier, younger, and skinnier. It’s much easier to look at the past than to look at your limitations now.

We look at our limitations and see what appears to be mountains to overcome. Sometimes, that’s very true, but in other cases, it’s only our mind that is setting those limitations. Yet, we allow others to determine our limitations. We learn that lesson at a very young age when our parents and teachers set expectations they have for us. Is it wrong that our parents wanted us to succeed? Is it wrong for us to do the same to our children?

Yes, and no. We should want our kids to have the best life they can. There is nothing wrong with that, but we need to come to an understanding that it is their life. Yes, we should try to protect them, but in the same breath they need to experience life. If we shelter too much, then they lose out.

When I was in High School I had lofty dreams of being a big time pop star, something that was frowned upon by my mom. Her retort was always, go to college so you have something to fall back on. Was she wrong for telling me that? No, it was smart, but in the same breath, she did nothing to foster my dreams. Heck, the first time I brought home a bass guitar, she had a million questions. She wasn’t pleased, so I had to tell her it was on loan from a friend whom she knew to be in a band. That calmed her down and eventually, it became a moot point.

When I headed to college, she had her plans for me. She wanted me to be an Art major. She wanted me to get into Graphic Design. While I enjoyed art, I wanted a different career, so I chose Communications Public Relations with a minor in Art. She was pleased as she saw me as a future Graphic Designer.

I sit here today and I am neither the Pop Star/Bassist or the Graphic Designer and while either would’ve been nice; I have many of the divergent career paths that have led to a very interesting life.

What does Mom say about it? I got past pleasing her in the real world thirty years ago, this year. Dad was much later after I asked if he was proud of me. His response threw me for a loop. “Why should it matter? The only thing that matters is that you’re happy.” What? How could he not care? The truth was, he did. He cared enough to let me make my own choices and my own mistakes.

I have a question to pose are you the one placing the limitations are did someone else? Are these your dreams or are they what someone else wants for you. Maybe it is time to look at your limitations from a different point of view. While as we get older we have more physical limitations, there are still some things we can work at overcoming. Things that we can do to be the best version of ourselves.

For me, there are a lot of limitations that I’ve placed on myself and some that I’m still trying to see if I can’t move past. Right now, my physical limitations are the hardest. I still want to believe that I have that twenty-something body when my body is laughing, saying you have the body of a seventy-year-old. Now, while I am nowhere near seventy, the X-rays and MRI show my back to be. However, in order to try to make changes, I have to see past that limitations and make the most of the things that are positive in my life. So I know my limitations, but I also know that I can make some minor efforts and possibly change some of them. It should be an interesting journey.

©2021