PhotoCredit: Yasmeen
Last week's writing reminded a friend of the book Stuck by Oliver Jeffers. Apparently I am not the only one who has metaphorically (and literally it seems) had the "what goes up might get stuck in a tree" issue. I deeply respect the solution of young Floyd who commences throwing other things, seemingly anything, up in the tree in the hope he will free his kite. I may or may not have done the same...
The reference to the book Stuck was an excellent excuse for me to share the work of Yasmeen Ismail, an Irish-born writer/illustrator. She had me at "No, I won't eat a banana" but I fell instantly head over heels for the adorably grumpy Gorilla on the cover.
With major green eggs and ham references, Ismail's book was a sneaky reminder of our human propensity to close ourselves off to options. To shut ourselves down like three year old's earning their independence. The broken record of "I'm too busy", "too old", "too tired", "too serious" to do something that will likely be massively supportive of our growth. It's the grown up version of refusing to eat vegetables.
Sometimes we don't even have good excuses. We just don't. Fullstop.
Cool, I get it. No matter how expansive we are there is the thing on your list that you categorically do not do. "No, I won't eat a banana." "I do not like green eggs and ham." Maybe for you it's "I am not a morning person." Or "I don't like exercise." For most of us there is at least one story we continue to tell ourselves. A story about who we are and who we are not. A story that ultimately creates a limitation on how great we can be.
What if you did get up early and work out? What if you did become a numbers person? What if you did quit sugar? What if you did leave your job and start that business?
Have a think this week about your stories. What are you telling yourself you are not? I'm not suggesting you make a change, not right now. I am suggesting you think about what restrictions you are placing on yourself. What are you telling yourself you are not? What might it look like if you were?