Limitations

Limitations

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference”. Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

Limitation is the act of limiting or the state of being limited. A restriction; a boundary, real or metaphorical, caused by some thing or some circumstance. An imperfection or shortcoming which limits something’s use or value. For the purpose of understanding I will like to divide limitations into two; Natural Limitations and Artificial Limitations.

In 2010 when I started this Selahs Idea, a friend, Lorielle, wrote me from America, seeking advice. She wrote about how she so much wants to go into modelling but because she is short, she thinks she wouldn’t make it. My advice to her then was that, “the truth is, height is essential when it comes to modeling but so also are other things, carriage most especially. Though she can’t do anything to her height again but then she can perfect her carriage…people only notice what you put before them.” Now she is a doing good for her self as a model and media presenter.

Natural limitations  are restrictions you have no power over like your height, your place of birth, family background, your past etc. These are things you cannot change, these are things that you have to live with but one thing you have to ensure is that they don’t change your dreams. If you as a person can accept your natural limitations and look beyond them, others will accept you for who you are. Earl Boykins was just 5.5feet and he was one of NBA greatest, what he lacked in height he made up for it in skills. Some people will say you have to be a pretty boy to be an actor but I don’t think Segun Arinze is, but he is sure a fantastic and accomplished actor. Bottom line, know what you can’t change, work round it so that it doesn’t change your dreams . For every deficiency you have, naturally you will have other super-efficiencies, it is left to you to identify them and make them compensate for things you lack.

Artificial or Pseudo Limitations are those restrictions that really don’t exist, often they are the making of our imagination and our fears. Like a friend would say, “I would have loved engineering if not for maths”, and I keep telling him that’s a lame excuse, if you know mathematics is your weakness then why not channel more time into knowing it. That simple! With artificial limitations, these are restrictions you can surmount either by overcoming the fears that initiated them or by dedicating more time, effort and energy to overcoming the limitation, in order to keep your dreams alive. Joyce Meyer wrote “…It is never too late to start something new”. If your limitation is due to knowledge gap, it is not too late to acquire that knowledge. If yours is financial, you have to understand the beauty of starting small even with the least of things. Whatever sets an artificial limits before you, master it, break free, let nothing hold you back from chasing your dreams… not fears, not deficiencies.

Your dream is worth fighting for, let nothing standing in your way. Things you can’t change, work round them; things you can change, change them fast…time waits for no one. Time is one limitation all of us have to deal with and the solution to that is “there is no better time than now, if it has to be done, then it is better now than later”. Keep your dreams alive.