Pushing your limits-- Becoming Odyssa----A Book Review

I haven't posted a book review on HoCo Connect before but I have just finished a book that I can highly recommend.  Becoming Odyssa is the tale of a young woman, Jennifer Pharr, who hikes the Appalachian Trail to find herself after finishing college.  What she finds it that she is stronger as a person than she would have ever thought before hiking the trail.  The book is as much about pushing ones limits as it is about hiking.  She was fortunate to discover this early in her life.

For all of us there are challenges that we should take on to make us test our limits.  For some it maybe learning to overcome a fear that holds them back. For others it maybe overcoming a handicap.  For me it has been running and seeing how far I could push myself to determine where my limits were.  Even though I didn't reach most of my running goals I gained some knowledge about how disciplined I could be in reaching a goal.  This has translated into other areas of my life beyond running.  I can be very persistent and tenacious in reaching a goal I set for myself.  What we accomplish is limited mostly by the narrowness of our goals and our fear of failure.  We give up too easily.  As the saying goes "the race is not given to the swift nor the strong but he who endures until the end."

So what limit do you want to push?  What fear do you want to overcome?

P.S.

Join Columbia Archives for Communication: Then & Now on October 12

Event will feature local media voices in a discussion of communications in today’s world

 

Communication methods have changed dramatically in the last 50 years, but the need to communicate is basic and constant. As part of its celebration for American Archives Month, the Columbia Archives will host a discussion with local voices in print and online media on Wednesday, October 12 at 7 p.m. at CA Headquarters. David Greisman, Columbia Flier/Howard County Times; Lisa Kawata, freelance feature writer; Lisa Rossi, Columbia Patch; and Duane St. Clair, HoCo Connect; will discuss the challenges, opportunities and importance of context in getting out the news in today’s world of instant messaging and sound bites. Archives have traditionally been a source for journalists to give context and perspective to current events, for as George Santayana said, “the one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again.”

When Jim Rouse posed the question in 1963 about how to communicate to the community, The Rouse Company answered with a carefully constructed marketing plan and innovative ideas including cable connections to every home. An exhibit of marketing materials, national media coverage, correspondence and local newspapers will highlight the ways The Rouse Company communicated the idea and reality of Columbia initially and how the responsibility for communication shifted to the local press and others in the community. The exhibit at the Columbia Archives is open to the public and will be up October 10 through December 30.

Columbia Archives preserves the history of Columbia and the career of James Rouse. It is a public research facility and offers outreach programs to make the material accessible. It is open to visitors on a daily basis Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit ColumbiaArchives.org, e-mail Columbia.Archives@ColumbiaAssociation.com or call 410-715-3103.