Stand By Yourself
The world is always trying to pull you down, make sure you do not help it even more in doing that. If you do that, you are doomed. Carry the Identity card of your strengths all the time, you need it more than anything else.
“You know, I am terrible at making good life decisions”. “You know, I seem to have a real bad luck”. “You know, my lifestyle choices are quite unhealthy, leading me to putting on more weight every day”.. So went on one of my friends, and I not for once felt like saying something like, “You are a strong and talented person, these notions are only in your mind. I am sure things would get better for you”. However, I did say this, because that is what friends are for right? Although, I did feel my words would not make much positive difference in my friend’s life except some hours of validation. Instead, I wished she thought of herself as someone really strong instead of someone quite weak. Even years of outside validation cannot give as much strength as one second of inner validation.
In the world that we are living right now, we are expected to be intelligent, pragmatic, tall, handsome/beautiful, loveable, social, successful, funny, hardworking and what not at the same time. In such a scenario, it is obvious you cannot be all of that. I mean I have seen people who excel in studies are not that charming, people with a good sense of humour are not that hardworking, people who are good looking are not so great at anything. The crux is you cannot be everything at the same time, but there is something you can always do: never portray or imagine yourself as someone who is too weak. You need to portray yourself as someone who is fearless and strong on the surface, and to make things best, strong from inside too. I say this because the world is always trying to pull you down, make sure you do not help it even more in pulling you down. If you do that, you are doomed. Carry the Identity card of your strengths all the time, you need it more than anything else.
Anupam Kher’s famous talk show is titled The Anupam Kher Show: Kuch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai.(Translation: Anything Is Possible). He always begins his show by saying a long series of stories that justify the moral that in this world, anything is possible. The thing is if you want unimaginable good things to happen in your life, you need confidence and the portrayal of your strengths as much as you need hard work, patience and persistence.
It is more important to feel that you are super strong than actually be it. If you think that those who seem strong all the time, are really gifted with better genes than you, then you are mostly wrong. While it is true, that some people are more gifted than others it does not means that strength cannot be built. With continuous practice of portraying yourself as a strong person, you can actually become a stronger person. Most people have the habit of saying that they cannot do something even before they are asked to do it. They fail at the zeroth level, even before the first one comes. Some people however have the “Can Do” attitude stuck with them. They can’t ever say no to anything. This latter sort of people fail many times, but surprisingly they succeed most of the time. Do not make it a habit to always think or talk about your weaknesses. Like all bad habits, this is a bad habit too. Mostly, strenghths and weaknesses are more in our minds. When you repeatedly tell yourself and those around you that you can do something, then the chance of your doing it successfully increases manifold.
Drop this habit of talking about your weaknesses all the time. This world is harsh enough to give you your dose of taunts, criticism, and remind you of all that you lack. Make sure, you be that person who doesn’t fall for these traps and continually remind yourself that you have all the strength. Like I said before, if you don’t do this you are doomed.
You may reach out to me at sdshivanidubey@gmail.com.
