Who needs a roof over their head?
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BOSTON, USA
Granted they do provide shelter, and we are lucky to live in a country where they are commonplace, but for the purpose of this blog stay with me…
Shelter. That is their purpose. That’s what a roof does – it shelters us.
It shelters and protects us. It keeps us safe and comfortable. It allows us to live in artificial like conditions – where we control the temperature, the humidity, the sound and wind factors…
If this is sounding a little un-natural, that’s because it is. I’ve been in my warm, calm and dry apartment all morning, and just went out for a run in the wild wind and rain, looking out across a roaring sea. Not only did it really make me feel ‘alive’ - it also made me think about how many natural elements we’re actually missing out on by ‘sheltering’ under a roof, and controlling our environment…
The other thing about these roofs is how they limit our view. They limit US. We place them over our heads (with a little, varied at times, help from the construction and banking industries), and then can’t see what’s above them, what’s beyond them.
It’s only when we take the roof off that we can see the beautiful depth of the blue sky by day, and the sparkle of the stars by night.
To place a roof over our heads, in the context I'm referring to, is to limit us. It’s the story we tell ourselves, or we allow others to tell us. Why we can’t do something, why we can only go 'so far', or achieve 'so much'.
Think about the goals you set yourself, the choices you make each day, the conversations you have with yourself and others. Are you placing a roof on what's possible? For yourself, or worse still, for others? Why would we do that?
I’m not suggesting you go do something ridiculously crazy… but I am suggesting you think about the roofs you are - perhaps without knowing - limiting your life by. Catch yourself in the act – look out for those ‘roof’ like moments! And think about what a limitless life would be like…
I challenge you to take the roof off this year… Pick one BIG goal in an area of your life – one you’ve told yourself before that can’t be done, that you can’t do it. Take that roof off – and what’s stopping you? I guarantee just by this simple act you will become so much closer to achieving it. Sure it will take hard work, commitment and support, but if you believe you can, you can!
Gees I signed up for an Ironman when I couldn’t comfortably run more than 10-15km without ITB issues… but I now know what happened yesterday doesn’t have to hold true today, we can reinvent ourselves every day. We can get better and better, bigger and bigger. We just need to choose to.
What view are you missing out on? Depriving yourself from? Perhaps you’ll never know… There’s no guarantees of success every time, but as a wise friend once told me… nothing in life is guaranteed. Would we not do the small stuff because it’s not guaranteed of success? Hell no, so why do we limit ourselves from taking on the bigger stuff? Sure there’s more at stake – but there’s a hell of a lot more up for grabs as well!
I for one don’t want to die wondering about what a life without limits feels like...
Let’s make 2016 the year we take the roof off!
No shelter.
No limits.
Just sky and stars!
(Originally published - 14th January, 2016)