For the entire week, I was wondering what should be my last message to you for the year. I wanted to write an article that is motivating, relevant and would be applicable throughout 2012. After great consideration and thought, I happily present you with this article.
Around 10 p.m., I was driving along the Ronald Mapp Highway, heading towards Warrens. I could see a car’s back lights in the distance and in a few seconds I caught up to the car and had to reduce my speed significantly because the driver was driving ridiculously slow.
I was in a hurry and was being vigilant for any opportunity to overtake, but there was a continuous flow of traffic going in the opposite direction. I became more frustrated when I peered down at my speedometer and realized that this person was driving at 50 km/h.
Since I was unable to overtake, I decided to sit back and just drive. Immediately a thought came to mind and I said to myself, “it’s amazing that the average car speedometer can reach 180 km/h, however, we are limited by law to drive between 60-80 km/h maximum.”
As I pondered upon this, I realized that the greater majority of cars in this country don’t ever reach their maximum potential speed. As a matter of fact, I would even be bold enough to say that this may be true around the world as well.
As I thought more about this, I realized there was a similarity between cars and humans.
How many of us in our lifetime actually reach our full potential? How many of us have actually fulfilled our passions, dreams and aspirations? How many of us have had ideas to start a business or to study or work abroad or to build a house or to get married or to have a family? How many of us after reaching 40, 50, 60, 70 can look back and honestly say that we are pleased to see we have achieved most of our dreams?
We too, just like the car, have allowed man-made limitations to hold us back. There isn’t much we can do about those limitations, however, it’s the self-imposed limitations that we create that we can do something about. We have little control over what happens to us but we have great control of how we respond.
I know there is power in words and words have life; no one can convince me otherwise. We often use words and phrases like; it’s impossible, I don’t have enough qualifications, I might fail, this idea is too big, and the list goes on.
These are limitations that we impose on ourselves.
Words and phrases like these destroy passion, reject creativity and hinder development. I would urge that we earnestly seek to change our vocabulary by introducing phrases like; I can do this, I will make this work, I will not give up, if this fails I will try again. These words motivate, build self-esteem and provide a foundation that should help us reach our potential.
There are four other things that affect our ability to be successful in resisting self-imposed limitations when they present themselves. These are: 1. What you read, 2. What you listen to, 3. What you watch, 4. Who you associate with.
Your associates and friends can be a great hindrance in your pursuit of your dreams. Most of the time they don’t share your passion or excitement for your dream but that is ok since it is your dream and not theirs. It is important to surround yourself with people who can help you achieve your goal. If you were meant to be an eagle and you spent all your time with ducks you will always remain in the valley and never reach the mountain top.
I once heard someone say that the wealthiest places in Barbados are the graveyards. So many passions, dreams and ideas that were never birthed or developed have gone to the grave with those people who had them. Will we suffer this same fate?
Words have power and words have life. We can change a lot by what we speak.
• Corey Worrell is a former Commonwealth youth ambassador. Email [email protected]
