The Ultimate Leg Up

It’s really hard to do something when you don’t think it’s possible.

It’s more than hard because when you don’t think it’s possible, you don’t even try. You might go through the motions so you can pretend that you tried, but–the truth is–you don’t even try. And, that makes sense. It would be stupid to expend emotional and physical energy on something that you know had no chance of success.

What if there’s something that you absolutely could do but you think you can’t do it? Answer: you don’t even try. You don’t try! You don’t do it! Whatever it is that might have gotten done, that might have been accomplished, that might have been created never leaves the realm of might have been. You were missing that critical element without which you never even get started.

This is where the magic of believing in one another comes in. When I don’t see that I could create something, someone else can see that possibility. Then, my blindness to my own possibility can be changed. Their seeing the possibility makes me see it.

There is nothing more empowering for me than when you see the possibility in me that I could not see. Your vision for me is contagious. Soon, I catch it. Now I can see that possibility too. Now I see a reason to begin. I see a reason to try. I am a changed person.

Generally speaking, there is no greater kindness than to see the possibility in someone, to believe in them.

This is perhaps the greatest magic of being humans together. When one of us is lacking by not seeing what’s possible for us, another person can compensate for it. And, that compensation enables changes of extraordinary magnitude. The possibility in each person is huge. None (or very few) of us see our possibility. Having each other to bring that insight to us is the ultimate leg up.