Believe In Yourself

This title probably made you look at it and roll your eyes for you have seen this phrase a million times in your life, but have you ever looked deeper into it? Try and look deeper in yourself and try and find the place where you find motivation. If you think long and hard, you will realize that your motivation to do great comes from others, but why is that? This generation and society as a whole worries about everyone else around them. Not only this but today influencers are known to be an actual thing where decades ago it just used to be a war hero that everyone praised or looked up to. Nowadays, we look up to athletes, beauty guru’s, fashionistas, actors/actresses, and so many more, but why do we expect other people to tell us or show us that we can do it? Nike is a prime example of this. Nike uses the phrase “Just Do It” and makes millions per year on that slogan. For some reason, this society thinks that just because Nike said it they should do it. What happened to that motivation you find in yourself after you’ve been pushed down thousands of times and YOU finally believe that you can do it. You didn’t need to hear slogans, sayings, or phrases to help you believe in yourself. You just believed in yourself!

I am someone who was and still is very guilty of using other people to believe in myself, but it wasn’t until I recognized this that I decided to do something about it. During my journey, everything was going downhill and nothing was coming on the up and up. It wasn’t until I met hundreds of nurses who either had Crohn’s disease or who knew someone who had Crohn’s disease that I finally started to believe in myself. Then I asked myself why after just hearing a story I immediately believed that that was going to be me? We as a society believe that just because it happened to someone else, it could happen to us whether that involves good things or bad things, but why is that so? That’s the question I asked myself on why and then I was motivated to believe in myself. From then on out, I made it my mission to find that belief in myself within and not outside my bubble. It was hard at first because with change comes obstacles, but the reward in the end was far greater than those that came handed to me. I first started by unfollowing all influencers that I had looked up to and really stayed off social media. This helped me think for myself and get away from thinking like others because they say so. I stopped listening to nurses stories about them and I stopped asking so that I could find that belief in myself. Overtime, little by little, the idea that I could do it and that even though right now it was horrible, eventually I will be my normal self again circled my head. Before you knew it, I was able to find that strength and belief that I wasn’t going to be knocked down, but that’s only life right?

This idea of believing in yourself not only deals with Crohn’s situations, but it also deals with everyday life. It can be in sports, academics, competitions, etc. Everyone has a mentor for who they look up to and idolize, but it doesn’t mean you can’t find it somewhere in your body to believe in yourself without the influence of others. Take school and academics for example. Many people, like myself, are very hyper vigilant on their grades, but with that mindset comes bad things. You always think you aren’t good enough if you get below an average that only you think is failing and you put SO much pressure on yourself. You start to doubt your intelligence because you are so focused on being the best of the best and knocking other people off their pedestal, but why not do good for you? Think of how amazing you are and that you are trying your absolute best in every case and find where you need to improve. There is always room for improvement and there is always a way to unlock that confidence that you can succeed and do amazing things IF YOU BELIEVE IN YOURSELF.

Believing in yourself is in my opinion one of the most important things you can do. Without the belief in yourself and the reliance of others to bring you up and as today we say “hype you up,” you will not go on any adventure. Don’t step in the footsteps of others but instead create your own in a different direction.