Boundaries/Barriers
by Tina Theriot
We all have boundaries and barriers in our lives just as it is with a cell membrane. The cell membrane is beneficial to the cell. It protects it by regulating what goes into the cell and what comes out of the cell. But are the boundaries and barriers in our lives always beneficial? For us, rules and regulations, for the most part, are set up to protect us. As we grow up our parents set up rules for us to follow. They do this to protect us. As we get older rules and regulations are put into place for our own protection. One such rule is driving within a speed limit so we don't crash into something and kill ourselves. Another regulation is making sure you don't start a fire around flammable materials.
There are certain social barriers and boundaries that we are bombarded with that are not helpful to us at all. We just hear this stuff so much that we tend to believe it. When this happens it becomes a self inflected boundary. Take, for instance, the erroneous "women can't do that because they are women" boundary, and, of course, who can forget the erroneous "you are just too old to do that" boundary.
With respect to the first erroneous concept, when I was growing up boys went to college before girls. My parents did everything to provide a college education for my brother, but not for me. Maybe my mom felt this way because that was how it was for her. If I had been given the same opportunities as my brother, college life could have been easier for me. I would not have had to work and go to school at the same time because my parents would have paid for school. I would not have had to work as hard to keep up my grade point average for scholarships because my parents would have paid for tuition.
Considering the second misconception, society implies that individuals over the age of forty are too old to learn something new. There are many obstacles and boundaries associated with this mentality. For example, if you wanted to start your own business it would be hard to get it started because of your age. Not many colleges offer opportunities for non-traditional students either. I felt, at one time, that I was too old to go to school. I even went as far as to tell an instructor that I would be over fifty by the time I could graduate. To that she said, "You will be fifty anyway, so why not be a college graduate?"
We convince ourselves that we can't do certain things, and we set up our own boundaries. I am guilty of imposing these barriers on myself. I have convinced myself that it would be harder to go back to school because I am a woman and because I am older. We have to put an end to this. We can do anything we want to.Don't give up on your dreams. Believe in yourself, and throw the boundaries out of the window. It is time to show them what an old girl can do.