Personal Limitation Test For Creatives

Through this post, I am going to set your personal limitations for you so you won’t have to. You will want to read this post if you have ever felt like you have set limitations on yourself, your drawing abilities, or your writing talents. If you have ever made an excuse for not creating, not living your dream, or if you just want to see what you are probably capable of.  I want you to look very close at what you think limits you. Are you really limited or are you limiting yourself? Have you ever challenged yourself to see if you were capable of so much more. If you have been like me in any of these areas, then you in for some inspiration!

”Any man who selects a goal in life which can be fully acheived has already defined his own limitations.”
Cavett Robert

 I used to run track many moons ago and would run quite frequently in races and place in the 1 mile and 2 mile run. The funny thing is I don’t think I’ve ever run more than 3 miles my entire life. There really was no need to. I only ran the the 2-mile in school, we didn’t have a cross-country team. Why would I ever need to run more than 2 miles? Well a few years ago I went out with some guys on a trip and they said they ran 5 miles and wanted to know if I would go with them. I did. I hadn’t run for years, but I went with them. I had jeans, no shorts, and my shoes were pretty beat up. I kept up with them, and I finished with them. I never went so far in my life and it wasn’t even that bad.

Well, one of my daughters just turned 9 and she is a born runner. She has the build and the heart. Spring break started for the girls this week and with the weather being so nice, we decided to go out for a run. We haven’t run together before, but it was about time we did. But this was not going to be an ordinary run, I wanted to test her limitations.

What an adventure we had. One foot in front of the other. We went through some dangerous passageways, some rocky roads. and the sun was going down quickly on the day. We kept going. As we went out past the city lights, we went by a pond where the crickets were so loud, it drowned out our footsteps, eventually we could barely hear each other talk. It was dark under the forest and could only see the road ahead lit up by the moon through the trees. The light from my i-phone shining at our feet, helped her quickly avoid stepping on a frog hopping across the road.

We came to a bend in the road where 3 savage black dogs always came out and barked viciously at us. Their bark is much more dangerous than their bite, but they are as tall as my hips and they are not chained. I told Sage to hold my hand keep running, I’ve passed these dogs lots of time and I told her she would be fine. Nothing gets the adrenaline going better than being chased by big black dogs in the middle of the night. <LOL> We held hands so neither of us would get too far ahead from the other. We ran, we stared those dogs down and we ran right past them.

We kept running until we came to huge hill and had to walk up, but we kept going! Eventually, we found a road that led back into the city. We kept running and talking. The city lights helped us see our way and we kept going. About a mile from home. She started to get tired. and we walked a little, then we ran, then we talked and ran. Up hills and down. We were almost home. When we could see the lights of our neighborhood I told her to sprint as fast as she could until she got to the entrance. We took off together. Full sprint!

I barely could keep up with her. We stopped and walked home. When she goes back to school the teacher will ask her what she did on spring break. She will say she ran 4 miles with her dad. Tonight I wanted to see if I could run 8 miles. I did it. Looks like I’m going to have to measure off a bigger section of the city.

What have you done on Spring break? Anything that you will be able to write home about?
And what does this have to do with art, making comics, or helping you get up to speed in your comic book career?

For years I only thought I could run 3 miles, when in actuality, I don’t know how much I could run because I never tried to do more than I thought was reasonable. So I have now shattered that vision for my daughter–at nine years old. She knows she can run 4 miles. What would have happened if I started her out running a marathon?

“Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they’re yours.”
Richard Bach

Here’s your limitation test. See if you will pass.

Don’t set your limitations! Your limitations are most of the time only imposed by your own mind. So set your visions far! Set your aspirations deep! Don’t limit yourself! This world is full of people who will try to place limitations on you. You don’t want to set them on yourself. Keep your mind open. Aim for the furthest stars.

Who says you can’t work for Marvel? Who says you can’t make money on your webcomic? Who says no one likes your work? Who says you won’t be able make a difference with your art in this world? Only one person comes to mind–you. Change your mindset. Don’t set your limitations until you have fully tried and conquered them. Some day, you may find you have reached your limit. But today isn’t that day.

 “Learning too soon our limitations, we never learn our powers.”
Mignon McLaughlin