Today I would like to share with you a page from my latest book, Confidence Booster. Affirmations to Reframe Your Mindset and Boost Confidence. I would like to invite you to complete an exercise I use regularly to help me through my challenges, with an aim to not repeat going through the same challenges.

Insight

From page 39, chapter 2, Self-Efficacy. Confidence in Your Ability.

I can go through any challenge.

Sometimes it is about getting over a challenge, but mostly it involves you going through.

It can be messy, full of uncertainty, and difficult to see the path ahead, but it can also be adventurous, exciting, inspiring, and encouraging.

It is taking what you know and have today, deciding to take another step forward, then action. Repeat, and before you know it, you are through.

You are strengthened.

You are renewed.

So What?

A challenge to one person may be a pleasant stroll in the park for another. This is because we are all unique and at different stages of our journeys. So please remember not to compare where you are at today, to someone else. I know, this may be hard to do but I find keeping in a curious, observational mindset helps me avoid the negative traps of comparison.

There is a saying in Australia which is, "Get over it." When I thought of this in terms of challenges, I realised that this perspective does not help us with our challenges. It is because we are all meant to go through and learn what we are meant to learn, or be strengthened and renewed by what we are meant to be strengthened and renewed by, as we go through a challenge. When we want to take a leap to get over it, we miss out on the value of what we are meant to experience and learn which is actually there to prepare us for our next adventure. Being in that spot is like being stuck in jail during a game of Monopoly and waiting to dice-roll yourself out of jail. I found many times through experience and research, when we look for ways to get over it (i.e. challenges), we tend to see the challenge resurface, popping up again, and sometimes again and again, until we decide to go through and learn / experience what we are meant to.

It may become comfortable to stay where we are because even through you and I are facing a challenge, we start recognising ways to survive it and become use to it, and even through it is not a place we desire, we become comfortable and decide to stay because there is no longer any uncertainty or ambiguity to it. It is comfortable even though it does not feel very nice to be in.

When we have courage (which I believe comes from trust), to make a decision to go through our challenges, we make mistakes which is normal and how we learn. We do some things really well and that balances the mistakes, and comes from trusting our abilities, knowledge, and experience we have gained up to the present moment. And it is this last sentence that contains the ingredient we all always have to help us through all the challenges we are presented with.

So if you want to experience the learning curve of a particular challenge once, don't want to feel stuck in a place that is not desirable for you, and want to have a confidence that grows with you, then decide to have the courage to take all you know, all your experiences, all your capabilities and abilities that you have right now in this present moment, and go through your challenge.

Exercise to Apply

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All the best, Susan.