Day 1
I have always enjoyed being able to acknowledge my thoughts and feelings from a certain point in time; therefore, a blog is for me!
I am reading my first self-help book, "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck," and it's been very interesting and provoked many new thoughts / mindsets. It is very much about not allowing your mind to victimize itself and taking responsibility for your problems, life, and essentially everything.
Anyway, my main thoughts today are that failure create success. And although this is a very common-sense idea, I think it isn't always fully understood.
At least personally, I struggle with beginning something new (hobby, sport, etc.) and feeling like I want to continue if I am struggling to understand an aspect of it. For instance, I have wanted to get into painting but struggle to find motivation for it because I've had a few mess-ups where I don't like the final outcome. I've had a few moments of loving what I'm creating but for some reason the negative moments where I've painted something only to feel like it's ugly and wasted my time are what really make an imprint in my brain.
I have started writing down "monthly moods" where I create a sort of mood board with a lot of quotes from various people or even myself to look back on through the month and remind myself of something that I might not be thinking about. One quote I wrote for this month was, "not everything needs to be perfect," and I'm really trying to embody this lately.
I want to try a new painting style but I'm afraid I'll try it and hate it and feel like I've wasted my time, supplies, and somehow have failed myself.
But of course, I'll hate it if my mindset is that it needs to be perfect and look just like a professional painting. By always expecting the outcome of everything to be perfect, we actually give ourselves no opportunity to experience enjoying something or even succeeding.
Life is just about making mistakes because without failure, no one would ever learn. And as difficult as this is to accept, once you accept this mindset, you will begin succeeding more than ever.
Ultimately, trying and failing, but then trying and succeeding is what builds character and allows for us to grow. Brains can't actually understand the difference between a negative or positive situation; therefore, brains should not be trusted.
If you had the opportunity to interview for a job you really want but end up being rejected, you may feel depressed and in a rut. But it is about what you do after this rejection and whether you allow it to define your life. Do you move forward and apply for other jobs in that field and go to more job interviews better prepared, or do you act as if this rejection is the end-all-be-all and you'll always be rejected.
Ultimately, if you decide to move forward and learn from the past without allowing it to define the future, you will realize that as terrible as it felt to be rejected, it was one of the most positive experiences of your life because it allowed you to grow. If you overcame a negative event, you might not feel good in the moment trying to move forward, but it ultimately resonates in your brain as a success and a positive event.
The most defining things in life are challenges, whether you choose to move past them and grow is only up to you!
I don't always feel quite this positive. So, if my future-self is reading this and wondering how I am seeming so motivated right now, it is simply a passing feeling, as is everything. But I really hope to extend this feeling into my life more and more.
It's funny because I've always disliked self-help books without ever really reading them (so I actually had no clue), but now I'm realizing how much I enjoy them, as well as how much I enjoy other forms of media that are within the self-help category.
I don't think I'll always be writing about motivation or positivity, but today, it just felt right.