Trust Yourself.

All the time we hear people, myself included, constantly criticize and put themselves down for the small stuff. We can all be our own worst critics and it can be detrimental to our self-belief and trust in ourselves as human beings in whatever we are trying to accomplish.

I tried this exercise I read about for a week or so where I tried not to complain or put myself down, out loud at least. The craziest part of it was how often I found myself about to say something negative about myself, or complain about something so small that it simply isn't worth the oxygen. When I was able to suppress this wasted energy, I became a lot more aware of my negative thought pattern and was able to stop it in its tracks a lot quicker than if I were to have rambled on to someone about how awful things were or how dumb something I said was. The thing about this exercise is it is not only about letting go of the small stuff, but also about building trust in yourself so that when things get tough you do not fall apart and begin to play the victim card. You will have built up the ability to overcome adversity and recognize things for what they are so now when a hard task comes around, you embrace the challenge. For example, instead of thinking "this is going to be the worst thing ever I hate this so much," you instead say "this is going to be tough, but it will only last so long and I can handle it." There is a big difference there in that one is very deflating and one simply evaluates and accesses the situation for what it is. The first person hates discomfort, the second dislikes discomfort, but knows not everything is comfortable and trusts themself to get the task done, then move on without complaint.

There have been many times over the last year when I am all over myself with where I need to improve, things I am not understanding, and parts of my personal life that I simply have to get better at. I have hardly if at all, recognized how far I have come and the things I have done to try to help others and improve myself. Those would include starting my website, reaching nearly thirty blogs, doing Tiktoks which I never thought I could do, completing multiple mental toughness challenges, etc. These things were all steps I took to help myself get stronger mentally and help others who may be going through similar battles. I am proud of myself for how far I have come and am not embarrassed to exclaim my pride. There has been too much time where I have tiptoed around my own issues as we all do. There has to come to a point in your life where you say "I trust myself, I am ready for the battles life will throw my way."