Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Beyond the Limits

Just when you want to remember something, your not-so-great-anymore memory fails you. At least, that's what happens to me :)

I was searching J.R. Martinez on the Internet and stumbled onto his website. You might know him, he was this season's winner of Dancing with the Starts (yes, I'm a fan of the show). I wanted to know more about this inspirational, beautiful person.

While I was on his site, I saw a quote ... he had "Inspired Quotes" listed throughout his site. This would be where my memory failed me. There was one that talked about trying to do more that you thought possible ... if you didn't try, how would you know what you could truly do?

Now, that's not the exact quote. And, Mr. Martinez, if you happened to stumble upon this little blog, please accept my sincere apologies. I really did try to find the quote on his site. But you know how that goes: the quotes rotate and I still haven't gotten back to that one.

At any rate ... I started thinking about that one. About pushing yourself to do more ... taking on more than you can handle ... going the extra mile ... giving 110% ... etc., etc. I've been feeling a bit of that lately with the move to my new teaching position. It's been great. But a little overwhelming at times. And I just didn't know of "pushing" yourself to do more was really the way to go.

Then I read the quote. And I started thinking about it in another way. It's not that you have to give up everything in the pursue of one thing isolated thing. But, if you don't try to push past your comfort level, grow as a person and individual, challenge yourself, reach for the stars ... then, will you ever know the extend of your greatness?

I have to thank Mr. Martinez. (I'd love to call him J.R. but the reality is that I don't know him well enough. And, I guess I'm just a little old-fashioned when it comes to things like this.) Thank you for being an inspiration. Thank you for challenging yourself and doing a little show called Dancing With the Stars. Thank you for your website. Thank you for living the type of life that made me want to know more about you. And, thank you for posting inspirational quotes that make people like me think.