How Do You Accomplish The "Impossible"?

If you picture an athlete with an Iron Will who challenges her body, accomplishes a task she thought she couldn't handle and succeeds, does the image that springs to mind immediately include someone tanned, clad in lycra, with a race number pinned to the front?

Not all of us are that type of person, and not all of us seek those types of challenges. But all of us can challenge ourselves - our bodies, our minds, and our souls - to reach beyond what we thought we were capable of and to meet that challenge and succeed.

Meet Dorcas Smucker: Writer, Speaker, Newspaper Columnist, Mother to Six, Mennonite, School Principal, and probably many other hats I'm forgetting that she wears. She's one of the best writers I've ever been privileged to know, and if you want to pick up a book that will get you inspired as well as sniffling with sentiment and howling with laughter, look no further than her books Upstairs the Peasants Are Revolting and Ordinary Days.

Dorcas writes a column in our newspaper, Letters From Harrisburg, and this month's was about a physical challenge that she accomplished. As usual, I can't approach her level of eloquence, so you should go and read what she wrote: Accomplishing The Impossible, One Small Step At A Time.


It got me thinking about how many things we classify as "impossible" in our own minds, immediately throwing up roadblocks as we do so. What are we stopping ourselves from accomplishing this very day, just by virtue of thinking "I can't"? Find one thing today, and say to yourself "I can" instead.

And if you don't look like the lycra-clad athlete you think you must be in your head, remember that Iron Moms come in all packages, ages, shapes, and sizes. Iron is what's inside you, that thing that says you won't give up on your goals, and like Dorcas you'll find yourself standing on top of your world, amazed at what you can do.