Believe in Yourself by Windy Angels
Don’t give up, and don’t give in. Keep your dreams alive. These tips are essential for adults who need to keep going in the face of failures, loss and problems in their lives. Life is unpredictable and full of twists and turns. Fear of the unknown often causes us to halt our progress just when we are on the pinnacle of success. Unlike children who are such joyous free spirits because they lack the cynicism that comes from many years of hard knocks and defeats, adults need to be reminded of their own inner strength and worth.
What do you stand for? What do you believe? What do you care passionately about? In order to have meaning and purpose in your life, you need to answer these questions. For me, I would say I stand for happiness and finding joy in life. I believe that life is good and that by focusing our attention on the positive side of life we increase our delight and enjoyment in the little things that make life great.
Often I struggle with giving up on my goals. Life puts many obstacles in my path, sometimes for even the simplest of things. There are troubles, struggles, and bumps on my road that make me want to quit. That’s when I look back at my progress and realize how far I’ve come. Or, I think about how passionate I am about reading, friends and family, happiness and my dream of living my life exactly as I want to. I realize what a wonderful dream that is, and how happy it makes me to share my love of reading, movies and fun with others. And I keep going.
Believing in yourself and your dreams is so much harder than giving up. Giving up is easy. You just stop, and list all the examples you’ve collected of your failures and mistakes and say “That’s it. I just can’t do, so stop expecting me to succeed.”
But dreams and goals are what give us purpose and direction. I dream of being an inspiration to others, of motivating people to put more pleasure and fun into their life and to help them relax and find peace in themselves. Even if I never fulfill my dream, my writing and sharing with others helps me stay focused on these positive qualities. It helps me be a better person because I feel responsible to others.
Here are my tips to keep you believing in yourself:
- Pray, meditate and reconnect with your spiritual side. Feel the love and light of the universe within you and you will find the strength to go on.
- Chart your progress. Use a daily gratitude journal to list what makes you happy. Reminding yourself of the good things in your life will boost your spirit and keep you going.
- Review your goals weekly. Look at what’s working and what’s not. People change over time, and so do their goals. Check off any you’ve completed and change any that need changing. Goal tracking gives you something to concentrate on.
- Read inspirational stories. Something that keeps me going is reading stories of people who are successful that had a rough road to success. Knowing there are others who struggled and overcame problems worse than my own is a great motivator.
- Focus on the positive. Make a list of your best qualities. Keep them on your computer or in a notebook for handy reference. Knowing your own worth as a person will keep you balanced when things are falling apart around you.
Above all don’t give up on yourself. You are a wonderful, complex, fascinating creation of the universe. The future lies open before you and it is up to you to make the best of it. Allow yourself to ponder the possibility of the limitless joys and exciting adventures that may yet await you. Believe it will happen, and then work to make it so.
Its very easy to loose hope and give up. Be persistent!
I always get such a lift from your blog. Your note about the Gratitude Journal reminded me that I kept one of these years ago, but then got out of the habit. I am going to go find a cool notebook and start one afresh — thanks for the tip, and for being your limitless wonderful self!
I’m so glad I came across your site in the Personal Development Carnival (http://www.thenext45years.com/2008/02/personal-development-carnival-issue-30.html). I needed to be reminded not to give up and your post really inspired me to continue to write and share what’s on my heart and to keep believing in what I know is true: “Be still and know that I am God….”.
Thank you for such a wonderful post. You really made my day and gave me hope.
Jen – your blog is great for making people feel more connected to each other. If I could give a boost to your day, all the better. Thanks for your comments.
Pat – thanks so much for your kind words! It really makes me feel good if I helped you out even a little bit. We all need reminders to believe in ourselves. All we need is a little hope. Thanks.
I’m glad I found this I need to belive in myself I’m not even a little bit happy with myself and don’t belive I can do anything that I would like to do and this might help me….
[...] Jones in “Don’t Stop Believing In Yourself.“ [click thru for more, including details on the [...]
I get discouraged easily when I’ve been told I can’t do this or that and it takes me a while to get the FIRE back in myself to AIM HIGHER than what I’ve been doing. I was told this by my pessimist dad.
I’ve done dumb things in life but live and learn eventually NOT to keep doing what can have bad consequences, such as picking who you hang around with.