Why Not?

Posted on | August 11, 2009 | No Comments

“There’s no use trying,” Alice said. “One can’t believe impossible things.”

“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” (Lewis Carroll)

When I was younger, I was going to be a pop star. I would dance around in my room, oblivious to anything or anyone else, singing off-key and dreaming of bright lights and big cities. About a week later, I changed my mind and decided I wanted to be a marine biologist and swim with my pet dolphins. A few weeks after that, I was going to be a pediatrician who invented “ouch-less” shots for kids. And then, somewhere along the way, I thought that I would do all three (because, clearly, as an adult who didn’t have to go to school, I would have way more time on my hands).

I’ve always had an overactive imagination and when I was younger, I was pretty much capable of imagining and believing just about anything. As evident by my wildly varying career choices, I never thought I wouldn’t be able to do any of those things. From my childhood point of view, I really could do anything, even if it meant being the first president on Mars.

But then life got in the way. Faced with my own limitations and the naysayers who told me, “That’s impossible,” I stopped believing that I could do anything. I don’t think I’m completely talent-less or incapable in most cases. But I have stopped myself from chasing certain dreams and goals because those dreams – the ones that seem blurry and undefined because they feel so far out of reach – were deemed “impossible.”

I suspect we’re all guilty of this on some level. As we get older, we become more practical. Responsibilities take precedence and we accept it when someone or something else says that our dreams are just not possible. Some of these dreams become regrets; some don’t. Either way, we believe it when we’re told we can’t do it.

But really, when you take the time to think about it from your long-lost inner child’s perspective, why is it impossible? Who says “they” know you better than you know yourself? Why do we let ourselves be convinced of our own shortcomings – real or fictional? Shouldn’t we push back and say, “Why not?” There are always going to be excuses. There are always going to be people rooting for you to fail. But why stop ourselves from at least trying? Why not try for the impossible?

In the 1880’s, Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí started construction on Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain. Today, 120+ years later, the church is still under construction and is expected to be completed in 2026. Though he spent nearly 40 years of his life working on a building the world didn’t know how to build yet, he built it anyway. It apparently never occurred to Gaudí that his project might be impossible.

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