Self-Imposed Limitations

[RING OF PHIRE: The Ring of Phire is a team of undergraduate fraternity and sorority members dedicated to delivering the messages of Phired Up Productions to their peers around the country.]

by Angela Mandala, Ring of Phire Member

I was reading the newspaper today and I came across a story about a woman names Roz Savage that rowed across the Atlantic Ocean by herself. All I could think was, “Wow! That is utterly amazing! I need to know more.” As I kept reading I found out that Roz gave up her job as an investment banker, her husband, and her red sports car for a 23-foot rowboat and a life filled with open-water experiences and speaking about environmental issues.  As I was reading this article, I found a quote from Roz that greatly inspired me:

“One of the things I learned on the Atlantic, when so many times I thought I’d hit my limit and just couldn’t stand the discomfort, pain and boredom any longer, I discovered because I had no choice but to hang on, that most of the limitations that I thought I had were entirely self-imposed.”

I began to think, “How many of my limitations are self-imposed?” Honestly, probably the majority of all of our limitations are self-imposed. How many times have you thought, “Wow this is a great idea, but it will never happen?”  To make a difference in the world, you need to push past those limitations.

For instance, I have thought countless times about how I hate the way my college sorority community does recruitment. I think it is ridiculous that we can’t talk to potential new members outside of all-Greek events until after recruitment is over. I think it is ridiculous the amount of money that chapters on my campus spend on recruitment when we could be doing small, everyday activities and creating relationships with new members on a much more personal level. I think without all the hoopla of structured, formal recruitment that our Panhellenic Council could use their time more wisely and gauge the interest of higher quantities of high quality women. I believe the whole process is incredibly fake and by changing it to a more Dynamic Recruitment, women on my campus would be able to see how real the sorority women are and what a difference they really do make.

So why haven’t I stood up before to push for change?  I thought I could never make a difference; that recruitment has been done this way for so long on my campus, that it is never going to change. I now believe that is an incredibly self-imposed limitation and seeing that now, I can work hard to make recruitment and Greek Life much better on my campus. I actually have a meeting tonight about how recruitment went this year on my campus, and I cannot wait to bring up my ideas!

My message to you is to think about your limitations and how many of them are self-imposed. I challenge you to break down those self-imposed barriers and make a difference in your chapter and your Greek Community. Imagine if we all got rid of our self-imposed limitations how much we could accomplish!

Article Citation:
McManis, Sam. “Rowing Solo for Others.” Chronical Times 30 Sept. 2010, Accent, B sec.: B1-B2. Print.

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