When the Goal Seems
Impossible
There are many goals and desires that require so much change
and effort to accomplish that we simply abandon them because
they seem so impossible. Perhaps the effort required would
be so arduous or prolonged that we feel we wouldn’t have the
endurance to last long enough to complete the task.
These are times when our integrity and belief in ourselves
are tested. Yes, perhaps we have failed to follow through in
the past, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t learned something
along the way, or that we can do better this time. Life is a
continuous test and if we don’t take on the challenge now
and then we are simply victims to circumstance and therein
lay the true failure. We should not focus on what we have
accomplished or failed in the past, those times are gone. We
should be focused on the present. What am I doing now to
challenge myself and improve myself? That is the question.
That should be the never ending question that is ever present
until the day we die.
I tackle impossible tasks similar to the way I take on a long,
hard hike. I may ask myself, “Why am I voluntarily hiking
this long, hard path that will make me tired, sore, hot……get
to someplace and then just turn around and do more of the
same on the way back?” I have to answer that satisfactorily or
I probably won’t take the hike. My answers may be “to prove
to myself I can do this”, “to prove I still got it”, “to see and
experience nature that can only be experienced by hiking this
trail”, “to prove I can still push myself”, “to exercise my body
naturally”. See it’s not so much of reaching my destination; it’s
about the journey and the experience. It’s how accomplishing
this feat will make me feel. That’s the real motivator. How it
makes me feel. And when I get tired and sore and hot I keep
trudging along, repeating some of these answers to myself
like a mantra, “I know I can do this”.
We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we
practice it. - William Faulkner
I focus on just putting one foot in front of the other, now the
other foot, now the other foot, keep moving, don’t stop, we’ll
be there soon, I can rest and have a beer when I get back……..
boy that cold beer will taste good. When I do finally complete
the hike, I feel fantastic; tired but fantastic. A kind of fantastic
that only you can feel after you accomplished something hard
and arduous.
Tackle your impossible goals, not for the money or the
possession of something, but for how it will make you feel;
that feeling of accomplishment. Do it so you will be proud
of yourself.
Wonderful! Now…….what was that next goal?
Gordon Barth owns Island Fitness Center located at 3155 N
Windsong Dr in Prescott Valley. Contact 928-759-2271 or at
[email protected].
pccnews
July 2015
29