I spent Labor Day weekend at Disneyland. It was a last second trip (I decided I’d go a week ago) to surprise some of my cousins as they ran the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon. My brother joined me for the weekend, making it a hilariously fun weekend with family. We spent a great deal of time joking around with my cousins and their kids, culminating with a super fun trip into the park on Sunday.
Before we headed into the park, I spent a bit of additional time hanging out with my cousins’ six month old son (in all honesty, my brother and I “borrowed” him and walked him around the hotel for a bit, eventually ending up in our room). All of my cousins have super cute kids. I’ve mentioned this fact on a regular basis. As I hung out with the newest addition to the family, I was fascinated.
He was on the verge of crawling.
But he wasn’t crawling yet. Seriously, he is so close. I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts crawling moments after I post this blog, but on Sunday, he still wasn’t there.
He was almost there.
It was a sight to see. There he was, using every ounce of strength to lift himself up, or try to pull himself forward, or try to kick his legs as hard as he could–it just wasn’t all coordinated yet.
He could move a little bit forward, occasionally grabbing a desired object, but only occasionally. He’d sometimes roll to get to some place, but he still couldn’t quite crawl…
…yet.
We would all encourage him, and for a minute or so, he’d give it everything he got, until he final gave up in frustration or minor exhaustion. He might try again thirty minutes later, but he still couldn’t do it (yet).
So I sat there, watching him, and thinking about effort.
I saw him truly give it everything, and I honestly couldn’t think of a time in recent memory where I pushed myself to that degree. I couldn’t think of a time in recent memory where I pushed myself so hard that I truly grew in the process.
Yes, I’ve taken on challenges. Yes, I’ve reached new goals.
But I don’t think I’ve pushed myself to that level.
I read an article a few years ago about the development that takes place in that first year of life. We learn a new language. We build new relationships. We identify objects. We go through massive amounts of strength building. It’s really incredible. The article described the development as the equivalent of training for a 100+ mile run, increasing your weight lifting 4-5 times over, and becoming fluent in 2-3 languages while reading a novel a day (I may be slightly off in my statistics, but you get the idea). All of this happens in a very limited period of time.
And then we grow up.
And sadly, we get a little too comfortable.
So today, I want to challenge you to crawl forward again.
Pick up a new goal this year. Pick up a new challenge. Push yourself to do something extreme.
I’m going to think about this for a bit, and hopefully announce a cool challenge that I’ll take on. Let me know what you decide to do even though you might not have accomplished it…
…yet.