Knowing Your Limits

Not referencing any particular incident or person. Rather, I catch myself re-occuringly experiencing this problem and noticing it occasionally in others, it manifests itself in many different ways. This is not a post where I am saying not to try something new, take a risk, or push yourself to the next level. That's part of life. The problem I have is when people fret about things that they cannot change, doubting yourself before you try, or become hard on themselves during challenges when they are already doing their best. Now, it would be quite ridiculous for me to imply that this should never happen, but if we can realize when we start to do it, we can keep it in perspective and our stress levels down; therefore living longer and all that good stuff!

For myself, I find my career to be a big one. In my job (Information Technology) I run into unique challenges that I need to solve, sometimes on a daily basis. Despite getting post secondary education for my career I am still constantly learning, occasionally the situation demands more then I can handle and I either need to ask for help/advice or simply work through it slowly via trial & error. I sometimes blame myself for these situations; feeling inadequate or less useful, and for no other reason than me thinking that I could have done something "more". But the fact is, how can you do something "more" if you are already giving one-hundred percent? It seems so obvious when I say it out loud and yet I keep forgetting that fact. Self respect is important and people should be proud of themselves and the things that they have done, even if they seems small to others.

The self doubt manifestation isn't one that I typically have trouble with but recently I've run into a feeling that I think most people experience at this stage in their life. I worry about whether or not I will be a good father to my child. I worry whether I will be able to provide my child with as good a childhood as I had. Generally speaking I consider myself a kind and competent person but this is something new that I cannot predict, or fully prepare myself for emotionally/mentally. But once again, this is silly. I haven't given myself a chance and am quick to run to pessimism rather then be realistic; it's much more likely that everything will work out great. Some bumps along the way, sure, but being a "bad father" is pretty ridiculous.

When you have time, have a short reflection of the the worries/stresses in your life and really try and identify whether all of them are really valid and what is just over thinking.