“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
-Nelson Mandela
The four most important words you can tell another human being for encouragement is, “I believe in you!” It feels great to hear, doesn’t it? It is empowering to know that someone believes in you! Why do you think that is?
Belief in yourself is a fundamental key skill to live the life you want. We must know down to our bones that we can do it, that we have what it takes, and that we have faith we are going to come through in any situation if we ever want to get what we want.
One of Zig Ziglar’s famous quotes is, “You can be anything you want to be, have anything you want to have, and do anything you want to do.” These affirmative words are life-changing. Folks, when you believe in yourself, you have the fuel to conquer the many challenges that will come your way. You will develop the power to drive your ambition to achieve anything you want. Belief in yourself is magic to your life.
We all have the light! This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine! People who shine are the most successful people in the world. People who have a solid belief in themselves accept themselves; they love themselves, and they trust themselves. They have the fuel to achieve greatness because they believe they can! They believe they were made for a bigger purpose than just themselves. They know that living small doesn’t benefit anyone. Life is too short to be little! They demand more from themselves than anyone possibly expects! They know that happiness comes from striving to be their ideal selves every day. Belief in ourselves allows us to break the shackles of inhibition! So many of us have lost our belief in ourselves. Guess what? We can get it back!
If you have it already, grow it! If you don’t already have it, how do you get this belief in yourself back? Well, it begins when we are kids. It starts with our parents, our best friends, our siblings closest to us. We develop this belief first from the encouragement of those we love: “You can do it; I believe in you, Johnny; Way to go; I knew you had it in you; you have everything it takes, Sally!” These words of encouragement set the framework for a life of belief in ourselves.
If we didn’t have the opportunity with loved ones around us growing up, to have positive, encouraging, belief-creating statements downloaded into our heads and hearts, then we start now with ourselves. Some of the most encouraging people I know had some pretty rotten childhoods. They see their childhood experiences as a gift and as a future strength. They see them as an opportunity to realize how important having someone believe in them is. And since they never had it, they are the biggest encouragers I know. So if you didn’t get the belief in yourself from a loved one, start now by telling yourself, “Yes, I can do it; Yes, I do believe in myself!” You will get it back!