Self-confidence Sunday #6

It can be really empowering for other people to believe in you, but it’s even more important to believe in yourself. As wonderful as it is to have people reassure me of my capabilities when I doubt myself–which I did a lot of in 2015–I also am aware that all the reassurance in the world will not restore my tenacity and fire unless I truly believe what is being said.

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The Space In-between

Relationships are funny. You learn more about yourself than you think possible–and not always about your best qualities–and just when you think you’ve really understood a lot about someone else, they go off and do something baffling…leading you to respond in an even more baffling manner. Then, you’re left with the conclusion that maybe you have a lot to learn about the both of you and you don’t know anything about anyone after all. Perhaps that is how personal growth occurs, but I suspect it might also explain spikes in wine sales. -_-

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Self-Confidence Sunday #4

As I’ve previously written, my fear of failure has caused me to avoid trying new or intimidating things at various points in my life; thus, this quote really struck a chord with me. Though I often was “the best” at many of the pursuits I did undertake, this quote gave me a new view on those triumphs. I often rose to the top through a mix of natural ability and dogged practice, but it frequently seemed as though winning did not take as much effort for me in comparison, and perhaps not nearly as much effort as it should have. In those instances when I played it safe and took the route most likely to lead to “success,” did I really succeed if I did not learn along my way to gathering trophies? What was really gained by avoiding the scary possibility of failure in favor of the safer guaranteed success? Indeed, I now wish that I had stepped outside my comfort zone more often.

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