I can’t become a champion because of my height
I can do that because of my weight
It’s because of my age
It’s my body shape
I’m too tall
it’s my background
it’s my parents
It’s my name
I’m too short
It’s my skin colour
it’s my church
it’s my environment
I’m not brilliant
I don’t understand things
I can’t read nor write
I don’t have a good voice
My legs aren’t straight
My nose isn’t big or my nose isn’t pointed
I don’t have the necessary skills
My parents failed, so, I’ll fail too
No one has ever made it this far in my family
No one with my CV has ever crossed this barrier
I don’t get anything without so much sweat. Nothing comes easy to me

SHUT UP!

One of the things that hold people back from chasing their dreams is what I term self-limiting beliefs.

In biology, a self-limiting organism or colony of organisms inhibits or retards its own growth or the growth of the colony by its own actions. Basically, the organism may release toxins that are detrimental to its own growth and expansion or incorporated in its genetics is the inability to grow beyond a given size.

In medicine, some diseases (some viral infections for instance) are termed self-limiting because they have a natural history of resolution even without any therapeutic intervention. That is, they are diseases that resolve on their own even without drugs. For instance, someone with a common cold may never take any medicine and fully recover after a week or so. 

Self-limiting beliefs in our context are those beliefs, real or imaginary, that tend to limit the host of such beliefs. That is, the carrier of such beliefs becomes limited in thoughts, imagination, aspiration and consequently, in how much he or she can accomplish in life. Such beliefs have settled so deep in the subconscious that the individual’s life is guided, directed, remoted by and built around these unhealthy thoughts. They constitute a barrier beyond which the carrier can’t see nor aim to attain.

When a belief or belief system stifles the extent of your dreams, visions and goals, the consequence is that your growth and level of accomplishments gets drastically hampered. You can only achieve as far as you can see. Yes, because what you can’t see or rather what you don’t believe is possible will rarely be given to you.

Some of these beliefs may be based on the experiences of others who went through the path that you are on currently. But some other times, these self-limiting beliefs are simply imaginary and not founded on any tangible premise.

The officer that stood beside the King of Israel didn’t believe the prophecy by Elisha and so was trampled upon when the time of its fulfilment came (2 Kings 7:2). He had a limiting belief based on his myopic human vision. Zechariah almost lost the promise of bearing John the Baptist because of his limiting beliefs (Luke 1:18). He was punished for his doubt. Jabez refused to accept the prevailing circumstances of his background but instead saw that it was possible to change things through relentless prayers unto God (1 Chronicles 4:9-10).

Listen: racism has been here before I was born, it’s still here and, unfortunately, might be here for all my life. Am I going to pause my life because of it? No way! I can’t change the mindset of everyone about me, so why would I allow my life to be ruined by what a mortal man thinks of me? I’m going to be the best that I can be for God, my family, my colleagues and humanity in general. That’s all.

Don’t let these beliefs of how you look, where you were born, the circumstances surrounding your birth, past experiences and things you heard from people limit you and your dreams.

If you look around, you’ll find men and women who had similar challenges that you’re experiencing now but who overcame them and achieved greatness.

Thanks for reading. Make sure to share and see you tomorrow with another dose of inspiration.