When people picture President Theodore Roosevelt, they probably imagine a rugged man riding horses, exploring uncharted rivers or charging up San Juan Hill.

But that version of Roosevelt didn’t start as a hero.

He started as a kid who could barely breathe.

Growing up, Roosevelt suffered from crippling asthma. And I’m not talking about the kind where he could use an inhaler and be fine. I’m talking about the type of asthma that left him gasping for air every night, forced to sit upright while his parents prayed next to him hoping he’d make it to the morning.

Some nights, his father would load him into a carriage and ride around in the cold New York air because the frigid wind was the only thing that seemed to ease his lungs. Doctors went on to say that he should live past this, but he’d never live a strong life.

Roosevelt hated hearing that. So much so that his father said something that changed his outlook on life:

“You have the mind but not the body; you must make your body.”

So he did.

Roosevelt built a gym in his family’s home and got into boxing, weightlifting, hiking, and calisthenics. He did it every day, even when it left him wheezing on the floor.

Slowly, painfully, he grew into a teenager, and eventually a man with muscle, grit, and stronger lungs that allowed him to hike for miles on end.

And over time, he became the man you know today. A boxer at Harvard. A cowboy in the Dakotas. A chaser of outlaws in freezing temperatures. And the President of The United States.

What makes this story powerful isn’t that Roosevelt had bad lungs. It’s that he refused to let his limitations define him. He didn’t wait for medicine or better doctors. He built himself from the bottom up and turned a liability into strength.

I think we can all learn from Roosevelt that our limits—no matter what they may be—aren’t permanent. The moment you stop accepting them, everything else becomes possible.

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