The Freedom in Limitations

Nobody likes dealing with limitations.  Let’s face it, rules seem to make things much harder than they would be if we were just left to our own devices.  Here at BYU, we at first seem to have an unfortunate number of those annoying rules.  No other colleges make people shave their beards or kick their friends out of their apartment at the stroke of twelve!  As if rules weren’t enough, we all have to deal with personal limitations as well.  Everyone is faced with things that they wish they could do, but don’t think they have the ability to do well.  People are always telling each other that they can’t do math or draw or write well, and tend to avoid trying to get past the mindset of “I can’t do this.”

After attending my Freshman Seminar class last Thursday, I was introduced to a new way of looking at limitations.  Our speaker told us that restrictions are a form of freedom, because they “force creative solutions.”  In his sculptures, for example, he limits himself to one medium: wood.  To most people, it would seem like there isn’t a lot that you can do with only one medium.  Our speaker looked at it differently.  He explored the different things you could do with it, and challenged himself to use the limit of having one medium to push what could be done with it and find new ways to use it.

Other limitations can be looked at in the same way.  We might seem to have a lot of rules at BYU, but those rules allow us to become better people.  Not everyone is talented in everything, but they can experiment to find out what their limits are so that they can expand those limits.  While at first seeming suffocating, limitations are simply a way to let us breathe and grow.