Never Underestimate Yourself: Day 6
Today I cycled 100 kilometers in one day. We also had our biggest climbing day so far, consisting of so many hills we reached 1,000 feet of elevation! The peak we climbed was as high as a 30-story building, and excitedly, we reached 500 km in total for our ride so far.
I have to admit, these are some pretty impressive stats and give me a little jolt of glee when I think of them. Of course a few months ago, sitting in my office, I may not have thought it was doable if you would have told me I could accomplish such things. Putting such numbers to everything and thinking about the magnitude, the effort, the exertion required to complete them, I may have said, “No way,” or “I can’t do that!”
Yet here I am, sharing with you, I have achieved challenging physical goals and I don’t say it to brag, I say it to impress upon you to never underestimate yourself! We so often stop ourselves from doing things because we tell ourselves it’s not possible before we even start. We get caught up in the numbers, the reasonability, the probability, and the fact we haven’t done it before. All that intellectual thinking stops us. I say the hell with that.
Instead of focusing on what you haven’t done yet, focus on what you can do if you just start. I didn’t know I was going to face an endless day of climbing hills. I just pushed through it, took one hill at a time, and went as slow as I needed to go, keeping my focus on just getting to the top. I didn’t dwell on how hard it was going to be; I just saw the fun, the outdoors, the experience, and appreciated every minute of the privilege I have to be enjoying it.
Too often we stop ourselves before we even begin. We underestimate our abilities and give away our power. We don’t challenge our strength or dip into our fortitude, we just assume it is too difficult and can’t be done. The truth is anything can be done and it can be done by you. You simply need to push past the thinking part and move into going after your goals with momentum.
Think of all the ways in your life that you have underestimated your abilities when if you would have given yourself a little push, you could have succeeded. Remember all the times you “thought” you couldn’t do something and that thinking made you right. You thought you couldn’t so you didn’t. Think of all the times you knew you could do something and you did it, because you believed you could. Now think of all the things you want to do and decide you can! You can accomplish anything. Anything you set your mind to is yours because you declared it to be.
I am not exceptionally athletic, I have just decided I can do this. I can cycle the road before me and I will deal with the hills, the rain, the rough spots, and all the challenges as they come up; not viewing any of it as an deterinet. Your mind will stop your body from going where it needs to go out of fear and apprehension because it has never traveled that path… YET! My suggestion is to never underestimate what you can do because you haven’t done it, just believe in yourself enough to go after it. Go out and do whatever it is you dream of, whenever you desire, whatever is calling you forward. YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH IT!
Never underestimate yourself. You are wise, wonderful, and willfully able to do whatever you decide to do.
Much Love, JB
