What are my limitations?

The last couple of weeks have been very stressful for me. Throughout this, I have decided that our capabilities or limitations are what we put on ourselves, either in work or personal.

I work in a very male dominated industry and have for about 15 years. More times than not, I am the only woman in meetings. Over the years I have come to both accept this and expect this. This is nothing new, which means it carries over into other parts of my life. I have no reason to think that I cannot do anything a man can do. You can blame my mother for this one.

For example, last week, #2 started playing flag football, and is incessant about playing catch when there's a break in the action, so guess who throws the football. This happens to garner comments from dads because I do know how to throw a football. It's things like "girl, you have a gun on you," "were you a softball player," and my favorite... "you look like Steve Young." (Lets be real, there is no way on God's green earth that I look like Steve Young). I think all of that is meant to be a compliment, so I just go with it. But whether its relighting the water heater, changing a door knob, running, cross fit, throwing the football, whatever... a man may be more efficient than I am, but I can certainly do it.

There are number of things that have come up recently in my work life that make me think of how far we have come as women, and actually how far we have to go. There still seem to be limitations on what a "woman can do". But in the same breath, I wonder how many of those limitations are self imposed. (Take a look Lean In, I really like this)

In our fitness life, how many times have you told yourself "I don't think I can do that" or "there's no way I can pull that off." When in reality.... you haven't tried. You didn't give yourself a chance because you were afraid to stumble. There are lots of things we try as beginners, and we look ridiculous (i.e. my first time in Zumba). But everyone needs to start somewhere, and you should have the courage to try at least once. If you try it, and don't like it... GREAT! at least you had the courage to try.

The part I like the best about being a beginner is being able to tell all your beginner stories later. Like 3 years ago when I started yoga, I couldn't even find my core. Or when I started marathon training for the first time, and my running coach told me "get off the treadmill and get outside." I was pretty sure I was going to die that day. But that marathon training was about 9 years ago, and running still hasn't killed me. In fact, it's managed to keep me sane for the last 9 years.

So before you start with the "I can't" or "there's no way," just try it. Only you can set your limitations.