Sometimes we shortchange ourselves when assessing our own abilities. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.
There have been many times in my life when I thought, “There’s no way I can do that.” Sometimes this attitude was linked to physical strength, other times it’s been emotional hurdles, and some days it’s been because my ideas seemed too pie-in-the-sky.
It’s funny how much you can amaze yourself, even with seemingly small things. How often you expect things to be so difficult or unpleasant, then when you actually do it it’s no big deal or you even enjoy it.
Recently I had this experience with our backyard garden space. A small section of it had been weeded and we’d planted a few things there – sage, strawberries, and oregano. The rest of it was overrun by weeds that were tall and taking over the plot by the time we got back from our honeymoon. One day after work this week I stared down the weeds thinking, “I’ll never be able to get rid of them,” or “It would take hours!” So, I decided to watch Gossip Girl instead. :) Afterwards, I had a little burst of energy, rare for evening hours, and just went outside and did it. Weeds gone! Yes, I could do it and it wasn’t nearly as bad or hard as I thought it would be.
A similar thing happened in Positano. When I read in the guidebook that the best way to see the city is to walk up and down and all around the steep hillside town I looked at it and thought, “No way. How am I possibly going to walk up and down that?!?!” But I did it…and it was fun!
This kind of thought pattern ties into some of the things I’ve been reading lately. I recently finished A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose
Next time you’re doubting yourself or worrying about a particular situation, try to think of one thing that you can do about it right now and do it. Maybe it’s just five or ten minutes of research, one small step that you can take to overcome it, or just deciding to put it out of your mind until you set a specific date and time to completely focus on planning for it. Then be present, and enjoy living your life the way that it is right at this moment.