Life Lesson 3: Limits

“Victory!”  I screamed as casey crossed a bridgeless creek.  Casey and I hike often. Hikes are my favorite but they are her all time least favorite thing for us to do.  One thing her mom wanted to be sure I incorporated in our time together was every once in a while something active.  So that is when we started hiking. We did a variety of trails. These were all intended to learn her limits. How steep can a hill be, how far can she go and still have energy to get back, what's the biggest step she can climb up?  All of these were limits we had to test.  

Allow me to take you back to when Casey was born for us to truly learn her perspective on limits.  Casey was born and had surgery so she was able to breath. Due to her small size and chromosomal mutation her family was told three things about her

1. She would never walk

2. She would never talk

3. She would never function properly with others

These were casey's limits from day one.  She broke every single one of these. Casey walks very well to the point where our frequent hikes are easy for her.  Casey never stops talking as I addresses in “Life Lesson 2: Patience”  Although hard to understand she will talk to anyone anytime.  Casey is a daughter, sister, student, employee and friend. Socially she isn't an expert but she has functioning relationships and knows how to fit in each of her roles. Casey has pushed every limit.  But like all of us she still has some limits.

  Being with Casey has taught me when to push limits and when not to.  When we go hiking, every time without telling her, I make us go a little farther.  It's up to 3 miles! She's quite the trooper. When it comes to obstacles that's when Casey reaches her limit.  One time we were climbing down a small ledge onto a beachy sand area of the lake. I made it down but Casey fell.  This was Casey's limit. And being the drama queen she is she still talks about her minor tumble. This limit is for Casey's safety but pushing the distance of our hikes is for Casey's improvements.  

When it comes to our limits as people we need to discern them when pushing them.  Is pushing said limit going to hurt me or improve me? I’m excelling in my honors level class should I push the limit and try ap level? I'm drowning in multiple ap classes but think I can do more should I take another?  One limit of mine I've learned is busyness. My junior year of high school I took three ap classes, was involved in JROTC, was in the marching band, had an internship and had a job. Personally I’ve learned I thrive when busy because it helps keep me productive.  Academically I’m a strong student but not the best student. So when all of this was going on my grades began to slip. This is was my limit. I learned my limit and now I’m a senior and my life looks like this high school classes, internship everyday, working with Casey and the occasional ROTC event. That’s still pretty busy but it’s the busyness I need to improve myself not to hurt myself.

So from Casey I’ve learned when to push my limits because many are made to be broken; but, I’ve also learned when to take a step back because staying within certain limits is also for my benefit. In a society where we are all pressure to do more, break more limits and excel I challenge you to learn from Casey and only break the limits you should. 

Application Challenge: Go outside if your comfort zone and try something new to learn about your limits.