Belief in Self
I don’t know about you guys, but I have definitely gone through several points in my life when I had anything but self belief going on. I questioned what I was doing, where I was going, when I should or shouldn’t be doing something, why I was making the decisions I was, how to go about things and fundamentally who I really am.
Most of these questions popped up when I was facing one of life’s many challenges or transitions. I remember struggling all throughout my teen years, when I went away to college, navigating adulting, getting married, becoming a stay-at-home mama, through different stages of raising my boys, divorcing, empty nesting, living alone for the first time, moving across the country by myself, finding my first full-time job and now building my own business in particular.
However, since learning and fully understanding my unique Strengths from the CliftonStrengths assessment just a couple years ago, I finally no longer question myself nearly as much. Now, of course, things pop up that drop me back into self doubt but I have the compass needed to steer me back to the path that is meant for me in terms of how I do things best, preventing me from getting derailed.
When I took the assessment I was already deep in the process to becoming more self-aware but the information I gained from a Strengths coach, Eddie Villa, gave me the guidance to accept and embrace myself to a level where I now manage myself more authentically especially when facing tough situations or dealing with tough people, giving me the empowerment I never even realized existed.
A bonus to this new self-belief is finding that the stronger I feel about myself, the more open I am to seeing, understanding, accepting and embracing other people and how they are different. We are not meant to be alike, therefore we do not think or act like one another and that is ok! The more secure we are in ourselves, the less threatened we feel when people are not like us. It also helps release the pressure to think we should be more like someone or something else which is a leading contributing factor to stress and anxiety.
As I continue to grow and build my Strengths- based emotional intelligence, I am full of gratitude that I, even at a later age, finally feel at peace with who I am. But I can’t help but wonder what it would have felt like to grow up and go through all of life’s challenges having had the benefit of truly believing in myself with the help of a tangible resource to guide me.
Many people think that the goal in life is to be happy, but happiness is just another emotion, like all of the rest that come and go based on your thoughts concerning outside factors. Being content with who you are innately without thinking you should change by being more like someone else or less like a part of yourself is what brings you peace and the true joy that comes from within.
