Pushing yourself over the limits
By coldnpale
@coldnpale (555)
Greece
April 30, 2012 4:31pm CST
I remember the last time I had to push myself over my limits. It was while I was in the army. In my country, military service is obligatory, however, I volunteered to join the marines (special forces). During that time we had a pretty crazy excercise. We had to walk in fast pace 50 kilometers, with our full equipment, that was minimum 20 kilograms. It was really demanding both physically and mentally. From the first hour most of us were feeling like dying:P. Fortunately, after a while you reach something like a nirvana state, and you don't feel the pain anymore...you just walk without thinking or feeling anything. The way was pretty difficult as we had to cross mountain terrain, and it was december so it was very cold, and we had 3 breaks, each one between 5-10 minutes. The whole excercise took us about 10 hours. I can't remember the exact time we reached our destination, however i remember beginning on 20:30 and finishing when the sun was begining to rise. At the time it was living hell, especially the last couple of hours. But after it all ended, everyone that made it all the way was really happy to have such an experience. Only bad thing is that we needed more than a week for our bodies to recover:P. I had some trouble with my right knee and my left shoulder, but everything is ok now.:)
5 responses
@alienstar (5142)
• India
1 May 12
Success is not at all easy for many people. To succeed, you will have to set yourself on fire. There are many things in life which looks complicated sometimes, but if you believe in yourselves and work hard on it, you can really get the results you want for sure. So, it all depends on how you are approaching your problems in life and the solutions for those problems.When you are working hard over your limits in a right way, you are bound to get results in your favor for sure. But if you work hard without believing in yourselves, then everything will go waste for sure. So, it is all self belief and hard work in life that brings success to you
@coldnpale (555)
• Greece
1 May 12
Well said. A good lesson for everyone would be that you shouldn't be expecting any results, if you didn't work for it. There are many times however, that even though you try hard, everything seems to go wrong. In these cases you just have to push yourself a little harder, to make the big break. If things still don't get any better, then you're probably doing something wrong, or this is really not your thing after all. So sometimes you must know when to quit and change direction.
@Bananafreakingidiot (11)
• Slovenia
1 May 12
Well sometimes you have to push yourself to see what you are cappable of :D CHEERS!
1 person likes this
@stanley777 (9402)
• Philippines
2 May 12
Wow..that seems really tough.. 
I admire soldiers for that- dedication to serve and protect the country and undergoing hard training. You can't just push yourself immediately though- it is a process since you don't want to give your body a shock.
I admire soldiers for that- dedication to serve and protect the country and undergoing hard training. You can't just push yourself immediately though- it is a process since you don't want to give your body a shock.1 person likes this
@coldnpale (555)
• Greece
2 May 12
Yes. If you push yourself to such an excercise suddenly, chances are that your body will get injured, while during the excercise you would probably suffer from a lot of cramps and similar effects. To tell you the truth I was never much into army things, however, since in my country it's obligatory to be in the military service for some time, i prefered to volunteer for the special forces since I could handle it and learn something, instead of being in the infantry and doing only chores.
@cher913 (25782)
• Canada
1 May 12
i think that once in awhile it is ok to push yourself. i have some chronic illnesses and i always push myself to get out of bed, to go to work, etc. i work part time and then i have a house and kids and a hubby to look after, plus, hubby and i have some other jobs on the side that we do at night too.
good for you on your accomplishment!
1 person likes this
@coldnpale (555)
• Greece
1 May 12
Thanks for your kind words.:) I'm sorry to hear about your chronic illness. It is worth admiring though that even though there are more difficulties for you, you push yourself and manage to have a normal life. Keep it up and good luck.
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
1 May 12
Sometimes I do have a clear idea of my limits and sometimes, I tend to really overestimate how hard I can push myself. Granted, I don't push myself too far, but far enough where I will be rather sore in the morning to say. Of course, if we cannot try and push ourselves right beyond what we had previously expected, then how are we going to improve.
Of course it is a matter of knowing whether or not really to just push ourselves right to the absolute limits. There are times where we really do overestimate our capabilities to the point where we are in a lot of trouble. There are really just going to be a lot of times where sometimes we can really just surprise ourselves and it can be rather liberating.
1 person likes this
@coldnpale (555)
• Greece
1 May 12
Truth is we did a lot of training and preparation beforehand, to make sure that we would be able to endure such an extreme excercise all the way. In spite of our training though, there were a few marines that didn't make it all the way. Failing to keep up with the rest of the marines would result in our disqualification from the marine unit, and continue your military service in a simple infantry unit, which is something I really didn't want. You either push yourself, or you get kicked out from the elite.:P
@microengineer (587)
• Indonesia
1 May 12
Good thing you are healthy now. Pushing ourselves to the limit is good but we must remember the future consequences.
I remember the last time I force myself so hard. It was three years ago. I am still new at the workplace, and there is a lot documents to be prepared. So I always finish them quickly and totally. Every week there are the days that I spent 18 hours for working. Unfortunately the effect is not direct. I got light RSI syndrome on my palm. Now I try to heal it, but it heals slowly.
But, I really enjoy the feel when we try really hard until the limit.
@coldnpale (555)
• Greece
1 May 12
Good luck with your healing process first of all. Yes, future consequences is something we should always consider. I have a feeling that when I grow older, that right knee and left shoulder are probably going to give me a hard time. I am just hoping that they won't be too fragile, to the point where they will limit the level of my life.
