Life and the way it unfolds will always be interesting.
I mean looking back now at the times when I was a child when I used to play at being the teacher. Every game, you could find me lost in my imagination, playing the teacher. As I got older desires to be a teacher turned into desires to be a barrister. Law fascinated me! The only problem was, the older I got, the more my confidence diminished and desires to become a barrister quickly faded with the onset of the belief that I would never be able to stand up in a courtroom and talk.
I spent years limiting myself with the belief that I was not good enough, confident enough, funny enough, outgoing enough, pretty enough, chatty enough, interesting enough, talented enough or skinny enough. After years of these limiting thoughts, I have been able to make conscious efforts towards the direction of what’s true in my heart purely by challenging myself to believe something different.
I now believe that I am good enough.
That I am confident.
I am funny.
I am outgoing.
I am beautiful.
I am chatty.
I am interesting, and that I am talented.
Looking at it on the page, black text across the white brightness of my laptop screen, it seems so simple. And even now, as I type out the list of those positive affirmation statements I find myself saying, ‘Nicola, you were all of that from the start’. But I didn’t believe it.
Even now, there are days I have to make a bit more effort to convince myself, but hey, I’m human and we all have our off days. But the purpose of this article is not for me to share my victory in overcoming my battle to believe in myself, instead, it is to share 20 valuable lessons that I have learnt on my journey in the pursuit of self-belief. My hope in sharing these lessons is that you also find something of value to assist you on your life journey.
1. Be DETERMINED! ??
2. Become so READY to show the world all that you’ve got to offer that you have to do a double take to check that it is YOU that’s looking back at you in the mirror! ??
3. Be ferocious in the pursuit of your DREAMS! ?
4. Get so EXCITED about the POSSIBILITY that you can see and hear the adventure in your mind when you close your eyes! ?
5. FOCUS… purposefully direct your energy in the direction that you want to go! ➡️
6. Don’t look back, you’re not going that way! ??♀️
7. Appreciate experience and memories for the learning they provide, NEVER used them an excuse to hold you back! ?
8. CELEBRATE everything!!! Big, medium or small! If it’s a win, f***ing own it! Give yourself the acknowledgement you deserve ??
9. LOVE always, and even if it hurts appreciate that you once had it and how wonderful it felt?
10. LAUGH a lot, even sometimes if you don’t know why ?
11. SMILE every day, at everybody! Let everyone see your smile ?
12. Practice GRATITUDE daily, you never realise just how much you’ve got until something is taken away. Don’t wait that long to say thank you for all the things you already have ??
13. Forget perfect, strive to be HUMAN! ?
14. BELIEVE in MAGIC ✨
15. Search not for the answers without, but instead, open yourself up to hear the ANSWERS WITHIN ?
16. TRUST your instincts, your heart always knows what’s best for you ❤️
17. Say YES more than you say no! Life is for living! Sometimes you’ve just got to check for rocks, take off your shoes and jump straight in… you’ll find what’s at the bottom when you get there ✅
18. Choose HAPPY ?
19. READ every day, LEARN lots ?
20. Never settle for what someone tells you are going to be, instead SET YOURSELF GOALS and SMASH THEM ?
