What Does “Impossible” Really Mean?

I grew up in Duvergé, a small town in the south of the Dominican Republic with approximately 14,000 people. It is such an isolated place that even many people from my own country have never heard of it. When I was a child, there were no major supermarket chains, no movie theaters, and no university. There was only one high school.

My family did not have much either. My father worked in construction, and my mother did whatever she could to help our family get ahead. There were times when I remember eating only once a day. I did not grow up thinking that I had many opportunities, but despite that, I have always been a visionary person. Deep down, I wanted to accomplish things that I did not know how to achieve.

As I grew older, I realized that scarcity does not only affect what you have; it can also affect what you believe you can have. My circumstances began to create limits in my mind. There were things I saw as too big for someone like me. I was afraid of failing, afraid of what other people would think, and many times, I was afraid to even try.

But there was one dream that continued growing inside me: I wanted to study in the United States.

The problem was that I had no idea how I was going to do it. I did not know how I would get the money, how I would overcome the language barrier, how I would get into a university, or even where to begin. But I decided to set the goal anyway.

That decision started something that would change my life.

I got my visa and came to the United States to study. The journey was far from easy. I worked in factories and different jobs to support myself. I donated plasma to make money, and there were times when I had to go to food banks for groceries. To enter the university, I needed to come up with approximately $5,000 and pass an English exam called the TOEFL. I studied for three months, and while preparing for the exam, I also worked in door-to-door sales to earn the money I needed. Eventually, I passed the TOEFL on my first attempt and was able to get the money I needed to begin studying marketing.

When I look back, I realize that many things that are part of my life today once seemed impossible to me. And perhaps that is the problem with the word “impossible.” Many times, we use that word when what we really mean is, “I don’t know how yet.”

I did not know how I was going to study in the United States, but I discovered the first step. Then I discovered the next one, and then another. I learned that you do not need to know the entire path before you begin. Sometimes, you just need enough clarity to take the first step.

So I want to leave you with a question: What are you calling impossible simply because you do not know how to achieve it yet?

Maybe you do not have the answer today. I did not have it either. But perhaps your story does not have to begin with, “I know how to do it.” Perhaps it can begin with something much simpler:

“I don’t know how, but I’m going to try.”