The Power of Challenging Yourself

We will never know our greatest potential unless we push ourselves to find it.

This statement has become my biggest goal and motivation in my life. Over the past few years I have learned something that has changed who I am and who I want to be as a person and a future CTRS professional. I want to share with you all what I learned and how you can apply it in your lives!

For you to understand, let me take you back to freshman year at college. I had just recently graduated from a private Christian school where I played an impactful role in varsity athletics. The school was small, and as you can imagine, everyone knew EVERYTHING about EVERYONE. When I came to Springfield College, I had decided to commute 4 years and not play any sports to focus on academics. A decision that I do not regret making but it definitely impacted my mood, stress, and confidence. I had no role to play in college. As a commuter I had no friends, nowhere to go, and nothing to do. I found myself to become extremely shy and closed off. I went from my nice comfortable high school where I was outgoing and meant something, to a nobody in 3 months.

Before I continue, with what is turning out to be a sob story, I want to assure you that all has a purpose. Okay where was I…

Sophomore year is really where everything changed. I took a course at East Campus called Challenge Course Facilitator. When I signed up for this class, I had no idea what it was. I only did it because my advisor suggested it would provide me with more opportunities in my career. When I showed up the first day of class, I absolutely hated it. It seemed like everybody already knew each other, what to do, and what was going on. It was not a typical class where I could just sit and listen and move on. It was full participation, problem solving, team building, leadership driven, zero to a thousand speed type of class! It forced me to interact on a deep personal level with people that were older and intimidating and I felt SO outside my comfort zone. So naturally, I wanted to drop the class. I even went so far as searching for replacement classes. But when that wasn’t an option because there were no other classes to take, I was forced to endure 15 weeks.

Fast forward to today: 2 years later, it has been by FAR my favorite class I have ever taken. Why? Because of the same exact reasons I hated it for!! I was deliberately pushed outside of my comfort zone, I had to fully participated, problem solve, team build, and be in leadership roles. Because of those things I learned I had so much potential and a grew as a person and a professional. This concept that I learned in this class “We will never know our greatest potential unless we push ourselves to find it” changed who I am and how I approach life. It motivated me to want to keep learning and to keep growing because I experienced something truly special by doing that. Getting outside of your comfort zone isn’t fun. It’s scary and as you go through it you hate it. But afterwards it refines you. If you knew me in high school versus if you know me now, you would say I am completely different. I am more open minded, passionate, accepting, and truly love who I am. I think everyone needs to find that one thing that truly scares them to try… and just do it. And once you do that, try the next scary thing. By the end, you’ll be more confident and less afraid then you were before.

Now you’re probably thinking “That was a great story for you, but how does it relate to Therapeutic Recreation?”

Let me leave you with this,

As professionals, at some point we are going to ask the people we serve to try something they have not done before, to learn something new, to grow and develop new skills and perspective, and to challenge themselves to keep going. How can we ask them to do that if we do not do it ourselves? If we don’t challenge ourselves to try a new intervention, a new facilitation, or a new idea… how will we know what OUR greatest potential could be? So many professionals get caught up doing the same activity over and over again because it is the easiest and they know how to do it best. But, we need to be challenging ourselves to try new things just as much as our clients. By doing that for ourselves, it ultimately helps our clients because they are getting the best care from you.

I hope the next time you come across something outside your comfort zone you will purposefully and intentionally try it because afterwards, even if you don’t succeed, you will come out better and stronger every time…. trust me! :)

Picture Reference: https://www.outsideonline.com/2411677/radical-power-challenging-yourself-outdoors