I was working out with my trainer today when he asked me to push up with my legs and lift the weight on the machine. My feet didn’t move. “I can’t do this— I can’t even move my feet”, I said. He replied with no emotion— “sure you can”. I sat there awhile and looked at him. He didn’t change his stance and it was apparent that my plea was going nowhere. I truly believed that what he was trying to get me to do was virtually impossible. I was angry that he didn’t understand how I really couldn’t do it. However, as I looked at this face, I realized that he wasn’t buying any of it.
I harnessed all the energy I had in my body and willed it into my feet. I stopped talking and just focused on the action. You will never believe what happened next. Somehow, I was able to lift the weight up and down. It certainly wasn’t easy and I barely made it through the process but I was able to get through it. I proceeded to do 3 sets of 12 reps. Let’s remember that I originally said that I couldn’t even move my legs at all, yet, somehow I was able to accomplish this feat.
How did that happen? How was I able to accomplish this when I originally felt that I wasn’t capable of this type of endeavor?
After I was done working out, I thought about this experience. I consider myself to be someone that’s always pushing to try new things and get outside my comfort zone. However, this experience made me realize that I need to closely monitor my responses to new challenges. Even I get into my habits and safe places in life. It just feels so good in my comfort zone.
This lead me to think about how pushing myself out of my comfort zone is a day-to-day process. Maybe some days I challenge myself and move forward, but other days I fall back into believing that self-defeating stuff. The talk in my head really had done a bang up job convincing me that my challenge was an impossible task.
I’m sure there are a couple of things right now in your life that you would like to change. Maybe your excuse for not moving forward is that “it just can’t be done”. Maybe it’s that you’ve failed before, so the process is futile. Maybe you feel that the challenge is overwhelming and way to huge to even consider. Whatever it is, I want you to question that voice in your head that vehemently believes it can’t be done.
I want you to realize that you are capable of accomplishing great things.
After you question that person in your head, I want you to do just one thing. I want you to harness all your energy and will your body to focus on taking that ONE STEP. It doesn’t have to be something big— just a little step forward that will move you closer to your goal.
Just TRY giving it everything you’ve got. Yes, I know it won’t be easy. However, you just might surprise yourself.
