I would say that about 90% of things that people say to you are true. Take for example a comment about some one's clothes (mostly a favourite female line): why would someone compliment a peer's clothing if they didn't like it?; why would they even bring it up? So it's finally reached the stage where I'm tired of people telling me that I'm good. Now this sounds pretty big headed of me but I'm going to explain the reason why I've decided to go and write about this. It is true that I am pretty good. But for someone as quiet and pensive as myself to come out and make such a bold claim, there must be a pretty good reason.
I get by with what I've got. Yes I'm bright, I read a lot, I write and generally do well at the academic side of life but in the past I would have traded most of that to be Mr Outgoing and Mr Confident. The way I see it now is that those things come with practice - very much like learning something at school or university. As it happens, I wouldn't trade what I've got for the world because this is who I am. I write a diary every night just to let off a little bit of steam and there is one line that I wrote almost 2 years ago that sticks with me: "I am what I am and what I am is what I have made myself". I think we can all take a minute out of our lives to realise that we are what we make ourselves out to be. Somewhere along the line I decided to dedicate myself to learning and it worked for me. Other people have gone for other things and are great at what they do - I'm no different and it has taken me this long to realise.
Now the reason why I've finally admitted defeat on the being told I'm brilliant front is that it breeds confidence - this I can't emphasise enough. We all have self-doubt and if anything I'm the king of that as well but it should also be the case that one can pat himself on the back when he does something good. Telling yourself that you are rubbish at something will not only make you fail at it but it will kick you square in the gonads for the future. Without passing those little tests when I was 5 and 6, I wouldn't be where I am today.
Maybe I've not quite hit the nail on the head here (oh dear I think I'm rubbish at this blogging thing!) but I hope that you have (partly) understood the moral of this brief post. Thank you for reading and now you can go and tell yourself just how good you are - even if you don't believe it yourself.
Cheers,
Martin
First off is i'd say that i don't think you are bad at this blogging thing, but second would be that i completely understand where you are coming from. In fact i had never thought about it that way, that we are what we decide to become. I too would agree that I have been told im good at things especially when it comes to academia, but I never disagreed, it was when i went to harder classes, and it became more difficult to maintain those grades that I wanted, that I started to doubt my ability. I still struggle with that sometimes, but anyway, i love this post! Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment :)
ReplyDeleteI think that the most important thing is that, even if you aren't the best at something (especially if you're used to be at the top), you should always tell yourself how good you are. It's a little known thing, but you can give yourself confidence when you know how.