What does it mean to believe in yourself?
As a young child, I am told that I was very shy. It is said that I would literally hide behind my mother’s legs when we encountered new people. While I vaguely remember those days, anyone who knows me now would find this hard to believe. I love meeting and engaging with new people. My turn around seems to have happened when I was exposed to more people and I began school. In my early school years my teachers knew they could always count on me. In fact, I remember for spring concert in middle school not only playing the clarinet, but being told by my band director that I was going to be the Mistress of Ceremony (MC) for the evening. While It is admirable that others believe that you can achieve success, it really comes down to what you believe about yourself to be truly successful.
To believe in yourself, means to be confident in yourself. When someone is confident in themselves, they trust that they can achieve.
To get to this level of believing in yourself, you have to first stop second guessing yourself. This means stop putting yourself down with negative motions. You have to change your mindset. For example, you didn’t do as well as you thought on one math test, and now you think “ I am horrible at math”. You are over thinking your situation based on one mistake. Another example, “Everyone-my friends, family, teachers- will think I am dumb after my presentation.” Now, I don’t know about you, but I do not have the power of knowing other’s thoughts. This negative thinking can hold you back from doing amazing things.
Anyone reading this can relate to having negative thoughts a few times, including myself, however I have now acknowledged that these pessimistic ideas are based on nothing. The key to turning this around is to counter these thoughts with I can and will statements . “I may not have done as well as I planned on my math test, but next time I can and will do better.” and “ My friends and teachers will not think I am dumb. I worked hard on this presentation, and I know I can and will do an amazing job.”
Honesty is the best policy, especially when being honest with yourself. You have to be honest and know that you can only learn and grow, if you believe in yourself. You can have all the supplies you need to do something, but if you do not truly believe you can do it, it will never get done.
Be Amazing! 🍋