CHALLENGE! I love that word! I am not a competitive person, except to compete with myself. I want to do better than I did yesterday. I like to challenge myself, but oh, for those days, we get into the dreaded rut. Lazy? Complacent? I hope not, but I’m sure I have my days.
Rest is vital, but when we are rested yet still choose to curl up in our comfort zone – that is when we must seek challenge.
Change things up! It doesn’t have to be on a grand scale; there is much to be said for the small adventures. We thrive when we are challenged to do something different or to try something that seems just a bit out of reach.
It is a pleasant surprise to find we CAN do something we didn’t think we could.
The saying goes, “If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you will keep getting what you’ve always gotten.”
My life used to be one “catch-22” after another. I thought I couldn’t do something until this or that happened, but if I waited for the right time or for things to be easier, what I wanted to do never happened.
In my 30s, I realized I had to “make” myself do something. All I had to do was to begin. Shoe conglomerate NIKE said it best, “Just do it.” I didn’t have to be the best, or be perfect, or even do it all at once – I just had to start.
But the most freeing thing I ever did was to trust that God was with me the whole way. If I was doing something healthy or positive, no matter how challenging, I knew God would give me everything I needed to accomplish my goals.
He gave me the confidence for a new job and provided the opportunity. He created my body to gain more energy by staying active. When trying something new He gave me the patience to practice and the acceptance of my limitations. I love to make up recipes, and I do fairly well-combining ingredients, although my boys still remind me of my “steak and potato pizza” fiasco.
The point is to put one foot in front of the other. Just do it. Try.
My Daddy was stricken with polio when he was two years old. He was raised to believe in himself, and he was an overachiever. One of his catchphrases he would say whenever we were discouraged was, “Can’t never could,” meaning that we never know what we are capable of until we try. If we defeatedly cried out, “I can’t,” we always heard Daddy’s encouragement, and I don’t know how, but that phrase always made me try.
Maybe it was because of who was saying it – not just my daddy, but a man who walked on crutches all of his life, yet played tennis, golf, swam and achieved most things he sought to do. Yeah, we were not ones to throw in the towel just because things were difficult.
Let today’s THRIVE challenge you to leave your comfort zone. Take that speech class, run that 5K, and read that novel. Set the goal, plan the first step, and just do it!