Ways to Believe in Yourself

Ways to believe in yourself

            Life and events are continuously changing around us. Now, many people are stuck at home with a virus sweeping across all countries in the world. Our life events are like an everlasting swirl of colors, imagine a swirl in a lollipop where bright colors represent good things, and dark colors represent everything else that might not be so good in someone’s life. It is not all bright or dark it is a continuous mixture of events. Not all bright might be good and not all dark is bad. It depends what each person decide to do with those events in their lives. I had a conversation with a friend a few days ago. She is a nurse and she is working as a nurse during the week. She just also decided to take a part time job to work in a bakery on the weekend. She asked me if I thought she was making a bad decision taking a minimal wage job. I told her no. She is following her heart. She loves to cook. She loves anything related to cooking. I think she is doing a wonderful thing following her dream. I have heard from many people before who started one profession and ended up doing something different because of financial reasons, life events or family obligations. Sometimes our dreams are placed on hold. I like to write. She likes to cook. My sister being home during the pandemic helped her realize that she likes to paint, and she is good at it, she enjoys it. Many people had bought her paintings in the past few months. This was not something she planned on, it just happened. She was stuck at home and started to paint. When my friend was talking about taking a cooking job, and when she tells me about what she baked this weekend, a new cooking experiment or when my sister talks about her paintings and the process of painting for both of them their body changes, their eyes lit up. It is pure joy, excitement, and happiness that I see in their eyes and in their demeanor. Following their hearts and dreams. I feel the same when I write, make something from wood, spend time with family and friends and help others, complete a project, plant trees, and play in our garden. I look at these events as small pearls. My friend and my sister just placed a pearl in their life. A pearl that is bright and shiny and helps light the way. They both believed that they could do something, they were not afraid to try it and went for it. It might have taken them some time to get there. The question is how someone gets there. How can anyone believe in themselves enough to try something new and productive that makes them happy? It is not easy. Many times, there are obstacles. Time. Money. Circumstances of life. A pandemic that locks people in their homes.

What would be the first step to believe in yourself? I think this is not a straight path. It is different journey for everyone. I do think that every single person can help support and encourage others to believe in themselves. When I started to work on a big project before like doing a PhD dissertation or writing a book, creating, or organizing a new service or an event, collaborating with others and talking to people seemed to be extremely helpful. Putting ideas out to my family and friends and like minded people in my community and my school helped to start to roll the small pieces that build up a pearl. A pearl starts from nothing. Starts from waste and becomes this beautiful, amazing piece of art. I think to believe in yourself it is a continuous building process just like making a pearl, building a deck, or working on any project. There is the first step, the foundation that needs to be poured, but before everything starts the soil needs to be evened out and all the materials collected, and the perfect place need to be decided upon. It can be easy or difficult. Each person is different. Each circumstance is different.

The first step is to talk about it. Talk about your dreams, talk about your hopes. Talk to your family, talk to your friends. Talk to a teacher, a co-worker, a social worker. Just talk to someone in your life. Start to build the pearl. Some pearls are just as easy to start like picking up a paint brush, others need more groundwork. Sounding yourself with people who believe in you will also help you believe in yourself. Do not give up. There is no failure just a roadblock. I worked on a project that took about 2 years to launch. It finally happened. It is working wonderfully in my community. There were many times when I was not sure it was actually happening. Especially when the pandemic hit. I had people and organizations around me that still believed it was possible. I could have not done it on my own. It was my dream, well one of my dreams to make a clubhouse for mental health support in our community. There was no way I could have done it without the support of my family, friends, and many other people in my community. Now it is running beautifully.  It is all started by talking to people. Then I found people who believed in the project and helped to make it happen. I am forever grateful. I have a shining pearl in my life because of it.

Ways to believe in yourself also start with opening the road and believe in others. Supporting others achieving their dreams can help you realize your dreams. Let’s take the first step.

I believe in you.

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