To live life well, you learn to live with your limitations. There's no one without limitations, but how we react to those limitations depends on many factors including recognizing limitations, understanding limitations, and successfully dealing with those limitations in proactive ways.
Recognizing limitations
Limitations are often unrecognized until they become a problem. For example, a limitation I face, which was a problem earlier in life, but not so much of a problem recently resurfaced as a problem area for me. Long ago, the physical limitation was a source of minor social conflict and alienation. Then I learned about a way to counter that limitation in social settings, and it was no longer much of a hindrance. Then, recently, that limitation resurfaced as a health risk for some. I was unaware and somewhat disbelieving of the health risk the limitation caused, but after others alerted me to the potential health risks and I read more about it, I realized that I would have to alter some of my routine practices and expectations in order for this limitation not to adversely affect others.
As an educator of young children, I was often in the position of discussing newly recognized limitations that children faced with regard to successful learning. As children struggled with various areas of education, formal and informal observation and testing helped us to understand a child's learning profile more including both their strengths and limitations. Once limitations were recognized, we could put together a plan to resolve or counter those limitations to help a child learn successfully.
When we experience social snags, it's often an opportunity to recognize limitations we may have with regard to social access, skills, or understanding. Experiencing new environments with regard to where we live, where we work, or what we do, often result in learning about limitations we didn't know we had before.
Limitations hold us back, and we often recognize those limitations when we face situations where our knowledge, behavior, physicality, or abilities create problems for us with regard to what we desire to do or be.
As we grow older, new limitations appear. It's natural to want to discount limitations related to aging, but when we do that, we miss out on the opportunity to recognize the limitation and effectively deal with it.
Understanding limitations
Once we recognize a limitation, we are then ready to understand that limitation. For example, recently I grappled with a social situation I could not understand at all. I discussed the situation with trusted friends and read up on the subject. Bottom line was that my limitation fell into the arena of mindset or perspective. I was seeing a situation as a one-size-fits-all situation when it was a situation of many, differing categories. Once I was able to successfully categorize the situation, I was successfully able to deal with it. I understood that my limitation was one of perspective.
With regard to the physical limitation I reference above, I thought I understood that limitation well and had found a solution to it. The problem was that my solution worked well in situation where that limitation was a hindrance up to now, but did not work well in a new arena as well as with regard to new scientific research about the physical limitation. I needed to better understand the limitation in order to successfully deal with it--I had to take this limitation more seriously and alter some routines and behaviors that were impacted by that limitation.
When thinking about limitations related to aging, we do well to educate ourselves well about the limitations we face rather than simply deny that we're experiencing those limitations. Denial does no one any good, but a good attitude and education helps us to understand the limitations we face well.
Successfully dealing with limitations
With regard to the physical limitation I faced recently, I've now realized that I have to make some behavioral changes in order to deal with this limitation successfully. For example, this limitation is exacerbated by overdoing it--if I push myself too hard physically, this limitation occurs whereas if I complete projects in a more reasonable way, I don't face the limitation as often.
We may not eliminate the limitations we have, but with recognition and good understanding, we can often mitigate the problems that limitations create in our lifestyle.
There's no doubt that limitations humble us and may even humiliate us at times. No one likes to deal with their shortfalls in life, but the reality is that if we tackle our limitations with a positive attitude and a willingness to make the best of the situation, we'll do well for ourselves and others. Onward.
