MY CHALLENGE
A Lesson for
Living I
thought I was living a limitless life. You know, free to be who I wanted to be. My parents, who emigrated from Panama to the US in the 1950’s, were brilliant at giving me a safe and secure environment to grow up in. There in my hometown of Berkeley, California, they encouraged me to be whoever and whatever I wanted to be. Like any good parent, Mom and Dad were poised to give me the best possible upbringing. My early life was filled with the kinds of opportunities you’d expect from a recently liberated America that was formerly bound by the hopelessness of segregation. I had friends and neighbours from every corner of the globe. They were not just a diverse people because of skin tone and hair texture, but because of a vast array of unique cultures that were very familiar to a diverse Latin American family like mine. My neighbours were, for the most part, friendly and generous, ready to raise a village – even if my friends and I were naughty and not part of their biological family. More importantly, my own home came fully equipped: good schooling, home-cooked meals, a warm bed and two amazing siblings to boot – a brother and a sister! I had the required care and attention from birth to express my limitless soul. I was that child who was not only loved 34
2021 • MY VIRTUAL CHALLENGE MAGAZINE
but encouraged to stretch beyond limitations, whether brought on by society or my own conjured up selfdoubt. I benefitted from examples of limitless living all around me, as well as undesirable models of closed mindsets that produced overt unhappiness. To me, sad people all seemed to lack the common ingredient of generosity. It convinced me from a young age that if I were a giving person, I would never have to become a grumpy old man. I was destined for greatness because I had it all. I was well equipped with the loving support of family, a tolerant society and a well-rounded education that went beyond mere prestigious academics. I had everything a child requires to live a fulfilled, happy and limitless life! However, something happened following my childhood that challenged me, and thankfully, later changed me. Although I was unaware at the time of the detrimental impact to my seemingly indivertible trajectory towards a boundary-free life, I was held captive by my own doing. As someone who was likely to epitomise a limitless life, why would I choose to restrict myself? After all, no one should ever have to feel trapped inside a life meant to be lived free, right? Of course not. Early in my adult life, I was going to learn a
Everyone has a #LiveLimitless story. Some of us are at the beginning of learning to overcome our limitations, while others face their challenges head-on every day. According to WarriorRic, we all have limitations no matter where we start in life, and it is vital to learn the lessons and persevere until we are all overcomers. By WarriorRic
valuable lesson about responsibility, accountability and selflessness in order to truly live without limitations. I have always been gregarious. I had lots of friends in school, and enjoyed very special and fun times that I cherish to this day. I was popular in high school and university. I relished being the centre of attention and I had a manner of attracting wonderful friends. I also had a knack for being a so-called ‘player,’ also referred to as a ‘shark’ in today’s vernacular in South Africa. I was the celebrated gigolo to some of my close male friends, but although kind, chivalrous and charming, to most women I was simply cunning. I had amazing girlfriends, some plutonic and some serious. On the surface, I was living a limitless life enjoying personal freedoms, even if it meant manipulating my relationships to suit my selfish desires for companionship and intimacy. It was what I had been exposed to in a free, but patriarchal society. I knew it was wrong, but popularity with the boys and acceptance by some girls encouraged my bad behaviour, destroying my first marriage which ended in divorce. I have always been proud to say that I have never hit a woman. However, I had to learn the meaning of ‘passive aggressive’ while trying to work on my
