Are Your Thoughts Limiting Your Abilities

Myasia was always a good girl. When she started kindergarten she was one of the brightest children in her class. She quickly became the teacher’s pet because of her great behavior and exceptional brightness. She was well mannered and loved to do all the right things in school so that she could collect stickers and bring them home to show her parents.

Her parents were really proud of her. She was their pride and joy. They pushed her hard because they only wanted the best for her. They worked hard to put her through private school. They didn’t want her to go to public school because they felt that she was gifted and didn’t want her
to get lost in the shuffle that could sometimes happen at public schools.

Myasia’s parents had dreams of her becoming a doctor. As long as she can remember, they had always steered her towards being a doctor. When she turned six years old, her father bought her an official stethoscope and scrub clothes. That was her only gift at age six. They were serious with
their plans for her life.

When Myasia graduated from high school, with honors, her parents pulled all of their cards to get her into the best school possible so that she could have a good start in life.

Secretly Myasia wanted to be an artist. She loved to paint. She was really good at it too. Her parents were proud of her drawings but made it perfectly clear that they believed her artwork was simply a hobby and could never be thought to be anything other than a hobby. Yet, it seemed to her that whenever she painted, she would lose herself in the art. She felt so good when she was creating a piece of art.

Since Myasia always wanted to please her parents, she did great in school, studied the courses she was to study and went on to med school to become the doctor that she was meant to become.

Myasia was never truly happy. She didn’t want to be a doctor. She would become one through because this is what her parents have told her she is suppose to become. But why didn’t it feel good to her? Why didn’t she enjoy med school? If the truth be told, she didn’t even like to go to the doctors or visit the hospital. She got a really uneasy feeling whenever it was time for her yearly check-ups. She simply did not truly like doctors.

One day when she was away at college, she entered one of her pieces into an art show and won first prize. She was ecstatic. She ran home and called her mother to share the great news. Her mother was happy for her but thought that attending to these art shows and wasting time on going
to an art school could possibly be taking her away from her studying. She strongly suggested that she do nothing with these art shows until the summer when she is out of school on break.

Shortly after taking first place in the art show, Myasia was approached by a woman who had attended the art show and who owned an art gallery. She wanted to feature Myasia art work at her gallery. Myasia was thrilled. She couldn’t believe it. She had tons and tons of art that she
could display at the gallery. She thought it might be best not to mention this to her parents. She didn’t know how they would respond to it and she definitely didn’t want them to talk her out of it, or make her feel bad because she was interested in doing it.

For two weeks, Myasia’s artwork was displayed at a downtown, popular, art gallery. Her creations had actually made her a good amount of money. She was happier than she had ever been in her entire life.

She never shared this with her parents. She went on to finish med school and is now a doctor. She hates being a doctor. She’s not that good at it either--probably because she doesn’t like it much.

She still spends her free time painting and creating art. Doing this makes her feel really good. She often visits in her mind, the time when her art work made money at that beautiful art gallery when she was a student in college.

Myasia is no different than a lot of us. We spend our life’s trying to please others and not doing the things that pleases us. Our parents, who have the best intentions for us, often drill their thoughts and beliefs into our heads so deep that we don’t even realize that these are NOT our
thoughts. We simply go through life doing what we are told to do, never stopping to question why.

I’m guilty of the same thing. Even though my parents never told any of us what TYPE of job we were suppose to have, they drilled in our heads to get good grades in school, go to college, get a good job, stay loyal to the job, make sure it has a good pension plan and stay there until you retire. Than you could do the things that you’ve always wanted to
do.

Seems kind of backwards to me, doesn’t it. I’m suppose to be on a job, whether I like it or not, from the age of 22 to 65 and than, after I retire, I’m suppose to start traveling and enjoying my life with all of this money that the company I work for helped me to save.

Well, it might have worked for my parents, but that’s not the way I plan on going out and I hope you don’t plan to go out that way either.

ACTION POINT: Stop living your life for your parents, for your spouse, for your children—and start living your life for you. God has a plan for YOU. And that plan will be something that you are PASSIONATE about—something that you will fully enjoy. You know the feeling that
Myasia got when she was painting? Well, painting is her purpose in life—not being a doctor. The reason her parents loved the idea of her being a doctor is because they believe that doctors make a nice living. Doctors get paid a large salary. They couldn’t see a large salary in artwork. But that is because they choose not to see it. Who knows what could have happened to Myasia? Who knows what could happen for you UNLESS YOU DO SOMETHING.

Take an active stance in your life TODAY. Stop living for everyone else and start living for yourself.
 

Dawn Fields is a motivational speaker, author and coach. She has an amazing way of reaching you with her down-to-earth style and her ability to make the impossible seem possible. Sign up for her FREE weekly newsletter by sending a blank email to mailto:yourlifespurpose-subscribe@topica.com.