I have talked about it before and I will talk about it again and again…. One of the most debilitating things you can do is feel sorry for yourself. The second we start to feel bad for ourselves, we are giving ourselves the excuse to quit. Unless you are doing permanent damage, quitting should not be allowed. If you are a true person of principle, living with a purpose, and self aware enough to do things of great value – feeling sorry for yourself when faced with pain or adversity needs to not happen!
There is a samurai maxim I am going paraphrase here; the Samura most prepared to die, will live the longest. Where they are going with this is that the great actions of a fearless warrior will live forever plus the person that acts with less fear is more efficient. When you put yourself aside and just get down to business, you don’t have the hesitation that fear brings with it which keeps you ahead of the pack. Think about how many seconds you have wasted fearing a little pain that had no real consequence. Think about how all those seconds can add up to minutes, hours, days…. Of indecision and a lack of action that held you back.
So many people have great ideas that never go anywhere because they are afraid of rejection. They are feeling sorry for themselves before they even get going. If we wait for approval, nothing new will ever get created and no great advancements will be achieved. Somebody has to have the courage to act, why can’t that person be you?
Taking this from another angle; if you do have something considered “bad” happen – why waste time sitting around commiserating when you could be learning from your experience and moving forward better prepared? Every single thing we consider bad can become something good if we learn from it. If you are happy with where you are and are achieving success, nothing in your past is actually bad. Everything becomes a building block to advance your life or a dead weight that drags you down. If you are rising, you are good. If you are drowning, you are failing because you are not learning and you are wallowing in self pity.
Tactical advice: Change your vocabulary. Get rid of can and can’t. Start using will and won’t. Your actions, success, and failure are 100% your choice. Take ownership of your actions. Understand that you decide to do or to do not, so you will or you won’t do something.
So, suck it up, don’t waste time, and act free of fear or act free in spite of fear! It is your life an the choices are all yours to make.
Bran Wright