We all need reminding from time to time of how amazing we all are. When day-to-day activities engulf us and suck the energy out of us we forget to reflect on the amazing things we’ve done that day and how many things we’ve overcome.
I struggle a lot with negative thoughts that suddenly appear during something important and make me feel I am not good enough or I can’t do something that’s in front of me. It’s gotten easier with time and I have more confidence in my abilities, but still those fears creep in and try to destabilize me.
A great example of this was yesterday when I tried coding for the very first time. I’m really passionate about WordPress and I want to try and build themes for my website and eventually for others. Even though I’ve never coded, I found a video online that explained how to build a theme.
Everything was confusing and I hit a few loose ends, but I stayed calm, took loads of breaks to rethink things, and control my emotions. I only had one moment where I was completely and utterly confused which nearly made me cry and brought on some of those negative thoughts in my head, but I didn’t give up and I figured out my own mistake. Usually, I’d be in tears for making a mistake, but I told myself this was my first time and I was bound to get something wrong, and that that was okay.
I asked my partner to check the code when he came home as some things still didn’t add up and together we discovered some more mistakes and fixed things. You should’ve seen the excitement on my face when I realised my own mistake and was able to fix it…damn, it was something else. It was so unlike the old me who would’ve sobbed in front of the computer because she wanted to get everything right the first try even if people worked years to become good at coding and even then they still made mistakes like every other person.
Old me would’ve quit after a few hours, new me kept going because I know I want a career change and I am trying all the possible options to see what is the best fit for me whilst still not giving myself a hard time if things don’t work out. I’ve already quit a few avenues that I didn’t think worked for me and now I am going to try and see if coding is my thing. Nevertheless, I am proud of how I handled the situation and how I encouraged myself throughout the day to keep going.
That is a massive win for me since I am someone that always feels like every mistake is colossal and it signifies the end of the world. Throughout the whole day I reminded myself I was strong, I was good enough and I could do it. And guess what? I did and today I will carry on and see where that takes me. Don’t give up on things because your brain puts thoughts in there that discourage you. Change the words you say to yourself because what you say to yourself matters and it could determine what you end up doing in life.
Give yourself freedom, to fail and laugh at your own mistakes, but also give yourself enough space to celebrate overcoming the hard moments and fixing those mistakes. Don’t just keep going, take the time to say ‘I was strong enough, I knew I was good enough and I did it’, then keep going and be amazing in the process.
Creative Writing Studio 