Dig deep.

There it was.

My arch nemesis.

That one rock-climbing wall at the bouldering gym that I’d never been able to scale.

So treacherous. So tricky. Deep angles and edges that require major upper body strength to scramble over.

Last time I attempted it? I lost my grip and fell off the wall before I could even get one decent foothold.

Scary and rattling.

I didn’t want to try it again.

“It’s time to try it again,” said my boyfriend. Damn him.

He smiled at me with total confidence and belief. “You got this,” he assured me.

Time to fall and die! I thought to myself, cheerfully. Goodbye, world!
 

I began the climb. Hmm. I felt stronger than last time.

Not strong enough, though.

I felt my grip slipping. I felt my legs shaking. I was hesitating, waiting too long in between motions, tiring my muscles as I struggled to cling to the side of the wall.

“Up!” yelled my boyfriend. “So close! You got this!”
 

Maybe it was my boyfriend’s encouragement. Maybe it was my ego, not wanting me to “fail” in front of the small gathering of climbers watching down below. Maybe it was sheer terror. Maybe it was pure courage.

But somehow…

I climbed that beast of a wall.
 

Swinging my legs over the top, I called down to my guy, “I literally cannot believe it.”

It’s true. I did NOT believe that climbing that wall was possible.

I was absolutely, firmly convinced that I was NOT strong enough.

I was wrong.

I had reserves of strength that were, quite literally, beyond my imagining.
 

“You know what they call that, what you just did?” my boyfriend asked, once I was back on the ground.

“What?”

“Digging deep.”

Ooh. Sexy. I like that.
 

It is amazing how we can convince ourselves, with absolute certainty, that we’re “not capable” of doing something. It’s “too hard” and we’re “too weak” or “too busy” or “not a good writer” or “not creative enough” or “broken” or whatever rationale feels like the truth.

And yet: it’s a lie. A complete fabrication. The strength, the ability, the power…

It’s right there.

It’s just down a little deeper.
 

The next time you feel like you’re slipping, weakening, overwhelmed, in over your head, or falling behind…

Dig deep.

You never know what you might find.