You rock....
Well hello!
Yes…I’m a day late. But so is Sunday! This week Monday is the new Sunday so I had a very good excuse!
My actual Sunday was spent having a day adventure with my hubby. With kids doing their own things these days we had a day to ourselves. Whoa! What to do?
I’m actually sick of making decisions so I threw the suggestion out to hubby that he could be responsible for the day. And he nailed it! Explored Queenscliff (somewhere neither of us had ever visited) plus a ride on the ferry to Sorrento. It was a gorgeous day….temperature in mid twenties which was a nice change from the recent 40 plus degree days we have been dealing with. Jumped back in the car late afternoon with slightly pink shoulders, wind-blown hair (well my hair was!) and huge smiles. Fantastic day.
Showed me that I need to let go a little. Showed me that being spontaneous is kind of awesome. Showed me that letting my hair down is totally good for the soul.
Am I a control freak? I like to think that I’m not. But I’m a play-it-safe kind of chick. Definitely not a risk taker. You probably all know I like to stay in my comfort zone, which is stretching further theses days. I mean….I’m living more in the moment than I ever have. I cut my hair, I bought my fancy pants, I even went to a yoga class last week! And I loved it! Full run down on the yoga class to come…..
But I need to ask myself why I second guess myself so much.
So where does one go, or what does one do to become more self confident? I mean, it seems like it’s unattainable. And yet it shouldn’t be. Surely deep, deep, deep down we know that we rock, right?
I find the easiest thing in the world is to praise someone, and even more so since I’ve been writing this blog. I love supporting people who are kicking goals in life, who are loving what they are doing. I go to presentations that I’m not particularly interested in just to show the person who invited me that I love the passion they have. To make them feel great about whatever it is they are doing. I spend money in little shops in our town even though I could buy a similar item cheaper online because I like people to feel good about what they are doing. I love seeing people feel confident in who they are and what they stand for. And I love success stories. Love them.
And yet I struggle to see the good in me.
This blog is the perfect example. I decided to start a blog on a particular positive vibe kind of day. Super keen, super enthused. Knew that I wanted to do this, thought I could help myself out of my rut and maybe drag a couple of old mums along with me. And the creative juices were flowing….until I decided to ask a friend blogger for some advice. Everything kind of shrivelled up. It literally took me days to muster up the courage to say “I’m thinking about doing a blog.” If I could have whispered that question on Facebook messenger, I would have.
I got an awesome response! My fellow blogger was even, can I say, EXCITED about it and was already looking up blogging conferences around the world, well…Melbourne. My husband was also very supportive, as I knew he would be. So I got game. I messaged my sister….the creative one of the family. I always regarded her as creative, me as hopeless. I. Felt. Sick. And it didn’t help that she took 2 hours to even look at her phone. Now, me feeling sick about asking her advice is not a reflection on her. It is purely a reflection on my own self worth. Or lack of. Her answer to my message finally come and it was full of enthusiasm and praise for the idea. She even wanted to help out little old me! Do you know how good it feels when people believe in you…and do you know how good it feels to believe in yourself?! It was like speaking Spanish to me….all this positivity was a foreign language!
It made me want to jump and click my heels together. Made me want to do more. Achieve more. Try things. Extend myself. Extend my thinking and my boundaries. Made me see that people don’t see me as being hopeless, or stupid or unworthy. And yet I had always felt like those words were stuck to my forehead. But they don’t see them. Unbelievable.
I love the saying “Be the woman who fixes another’s woman’s crown without telling the world it was crooked.” Love it.
Be that woman.
Smile. Encourage. Support. Makes a huge difference. And most of all….don’t judge. We are all striving for success, be it a loving family life, a great relationship or a fulfilling career. But we all need an extra shot of self confidence sometimes, and it may just come from a simple gesture, a smile, a compliment. I’m so grateful to my friend and sister, and of course my husband, for the belief they showed in me and my little journey into the unknown world of writing and blogging. They will never know how great they made me feel with just a few words of encouragement.
This week is going to be full of positivity. If I hear that bitchy little voice in my head trying to yell at me, I’m going to tell myself to ignore it. I’m replacing her with the song “This is me” from the film The Greatest Showman and remind myself that we are all unique and we all have gifts to offer the world.
Even if it takes us almost 47 years to see them….
Love,
Cherie with a C.
xxx