My two (2) year old daughter is learning her alphabet,
colors, words, numbers and just myriad of new things; and whenever she
completes reciting them, she stops – claps and says “Good Job”. My husband and I think we are pretty quick to
praise her whenever she goes into her recitations; but we’ve noticed that whether
we praise her or not, she praises herself.
Often she leads the chorus.
I think we can all follow my granddaughter’s example. How often have we had accomplishments or have
done things but have had no one to speak encouraging words to us or pat us on
the back? How often have others simply
not even noticed or known what we have accomplished or done? It can be as simple as others being too
preoccupied and/or too caught up in their own worlds to notice. Sometimes, people may not feel that we need
to hear their encouragement. They may
not realize how important their words of acknowledgment and encouragement mean
to us. There are times when people may
even have ulterior motives for not applauding us. It could be jealousy or maybe they may not
want to encourage us and see us move forward.
I said all of this to say, that when we don’t get the words of inspiration
we need or seek from others, we can take my granddaughter’s lead…and inspire ourselves. After all, we know when we have accomplished
something significant in our own eyes.
Why should someone else’s encouragement of us propel us so much more
than our own words of encouragement to ourselves?
Encourage yourself.
Perhaps, if we get into the habit of encouraging ourselves, we may not
be so inclined to need outside encouragement which may also be fallacious and
self-serving. Perhaps, if we learn to
encourage ourselves, we won’t be so easily led astray because we are listening
to someone else’s evaluation of ourselves and our efforts. We should know what is important to us and
what we need to do to move forward. We
should have a plan and look at that plan on a regular enough schedule to know if
we are following it or deviating from it.
Listening and depending too heavily on others’ encouragement of our
actions may also lead us to lose sight of where we are trying to go because we
are getting too focused on what others think of us. We may be able to do something well, which
may result in others praising us for our actions. And, so we keep doing things along that genre
because now we want to hear those accolades again. Few things feel better than receiving
heartfelt praise and encouragement from someone else. But, the thing we did which resulted in that
praise may not ultimately really be what we want to keep on doing. For example, I handle myself well in public
situations. People commend me on my
public persona. This has resulted in my
being prompted and asked to speak up and out in group situations when I am
perfectly content to sit back and listen to what others have to say. Subsequently, I have found myself in charge
of organizations and groups because I took to heart the praise and encouragement
of others resulting in my taking on responsibilities which I really did not
want.
looking to our friends, family and peers for encouragement,
they may not have it in them because they are also trying to keep their heads
above water. Life can be overwhelming
and we have to find ways to not let it cripple us to the point of not being
able to function. Sometimes, it is
enough to actually get up each day knowing we have to figure out how to make it
to the end of the day with all that we are carrying.
We have to find a way to encourage ourselves so that we keep
moving forward and we don’t get lost in the whirlwind of life. Look at what is good in your life.
Believe it or not, it truly could be worse. Draw strength from that knowledge. Choose something you want to be better. Break that thing down and work on how you can
make it better and get to where you want to be.
Praise yourself at each
accomplishment. Don’t wait for the praise of others. Sometimes, you really don’t want people to know what you’re going through so you
will be the only one who will be able to encourage you.
Encourage yourself by finding a mantra and repeating it as
often as necessary. I have a cousin who
listens to a certain song at the beginning of each day and whenever she feels
discouraged. There are certain poems I find
inspiring. Maybe you need to find and
read a book on motivation or listen to uplifting CD’s. Pray and keep on praying.
The purpose of writing this blog is to teach me to encourage
myself. Writing this blog has made me
focus, reflect and comment in detail on things which are important to me. I have received words of encouragement from
readers, which I am absolutely
delighted to hear, but as I said at the launching of my blog, I am trying to move forward so that I end
up in an excellent place in my life.
Peace
Michele
