sky is the limit ...or is it?

At one of my high school reunion, I was asked to give some meaningful advices to the current high-schoolers then. So, inevitably at the end of my speech, I said, “Aim high and you can do it!” I am one of those who believe in goals. Without goals, I feel like I am driving in circle without any destination. Without goals, I feel like I am doing things that never end. Without goals, I feel like I am in a limbo state. I believe for an individual to be successful, a goal needs to be set and aim as high as one could. Exactly how high should our goals be?

One wise mom once told me that we all need to struggle to reach our goal. She said that if the goal is too easy, then it is no longer challenging and the goal becomes no value. Come to think about it, if we have been doing the same job for years, it becomes part of the routine and it is no longer challenging. After awhile, we are bored and started to look for a change. What exactly are we looking for? A new set of challenging goals perhaps. Just the thought of it gives us a little bit of chill, but also the thrill. The chill of failure, and the thrill  for the challenge. 

My girls were very lucky. They met one of the best teachers they have during fifth grades. Both girls were lucky enough to have Mr. W as their home room and math teacher. Mr. W challenged them all right.  He challenged his students by teaching them math and grammar aiming for 7^th grade students. At first both girls were struggling, but toward the end they did extremely well. Somehow, he set out a challenging quest for them to thrive on. Mr. W had played a big role in both girls’ attitude in learning as he interleaved the challenging goals in their head. .

Okay, not everyone has that type of teachers that could mentor and challenge them so they could aim high. How exactly we can get our children or perhaps ourselves to take the challenging goals? Perhaps we should push the limit. Perhaps we should push higher. Perhaps we should aim higher each time. 

--courtesy of arthurblue.deviantart.com

Let's say we finally discover ways to aim high for ourselves or for our children. Now the questions that occasionally come to my mind, what happens when we realize that we could no longer keep up with the goals? What happens when we realize that we have set unrealistic goals for ourselves? Or better yet, when someone has given us unrealistic goals? After we have repeatedly trying to achieve the impossible and yet the impossible is unreachable. Should we step back and re-prioritize our goals?

I am well aware of the phrase, "sky is the limit." Yes. It is a wonderful expression to keep us upbeat and motivate us to reach our goals. Like I mention earlier, I am all about goals myself. On the other hand, I want us to also realize that we need to step back before we devastate ourselves. We need to make sure our goals don't destruct us. We should also know when to stop when the goals has become a drag in our life, when we are no longer thriving for them, when we are feeling miserable because of them. 

It is great to have a goal in mind, in fact, the more challenging, the more fascinating it is. But yet, at the same time, let’s pause once in a while in our journey to examine whether our goals, are indeed in line with our emotional need.

Until next stop,
Journey of Life