Not everyone will understand your journey. That’s fine. It’s not their journey to make sense of. It’s yours.
Author | Photographer | CG Artist | Filmmaker
Many times, how you think about the things holding you back hold you back more than the things themselves. For example: criticism.
It isn’t criticism that holds you back, it’s how you choose to think & react to it that does. Always remember that how you choose to respond to criticism and negativity is a choice.
Ignoring criticism is an option that too few people take advantage of. The more that you consciously disconnect yourself from modes of thinking that hold you back, the more you free yourself to move forward unhindered.
There’s nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about putting in the effort to get better at something. No one starts at the top – everyone has to make the climb to reach the heights they are capable of achieving.
Don’t let your fear of being bad at something stop you from making progress towards getting better at it. Putting in the effort to improve yourself is far more admirable than anyone who may criticize you for it.
Don’t let your fears keep you from making progress towards the things you want to do in life. If you want to see how high you can go, you have to start climbing.
Always keep in mind that no matter what you’re dealing with now, now is not forever. Repeat that. Now is not forever. Your life will change. Your feelings will change. Your attitude will change. And your circumstances will change.
Whatever you are dealing with now, hang in there and do whatever is necessary to manage this minute, this hour, or this day in as healthy & productive a way as possible and you will see that things will change.
Now is not forever – now is just a passing moment in your life. You can get through this.
Just because something works for someone else doesn’t mean that it will work for you – but if it doesn’t, it doesn’t mean that you should stop seeking something that will.
Don’t let your lack of results be an excuse for a lack of effort. Your life is your responsibility.
When something that works for others doesn’t work for you, it’s your responsibility to keep trying new things until you find something that will.
When it comes to productivity & accomplishment, too many people spend too much time thinking and not enough time doing. Your thoughts produce far fewer results than your actions ever do.
The world doesn’t see what you think, it only sees what you do. If you want to make a significant difference in your own life or someone else’s, you must transform your thoughts into actions that get results.
If you’re weird, own that shit. You don’t have to be ashamed or embarrassed by it. In a world full of people doing their best to fit in, you don’t – and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
But if you don’t own your weirdness – or you allow yourself to be embarrassed by it – people who prefer the ordinary will often find ways to make you feel like a lesser person because of it.
The fact is, the things that make you unique – even if they’re weird – can be a source of great satisfaction & immense personal power in your life – but only if you fully accept them and refuse to see the things that make you stand out as flaws.
When you learn to use your uniqueness as a source of power instead of weakness, your whole world can change. Because another word for weird is remarkable. And the world is drawn to remarkable things.
Many people use the term “weird” as if it’s a bad thing, but it’s really not. Anyone can try to fit in – and many people spend their entire lives making sure they do – but the fact is, there’s nothing remarkable about conforming to a crowd.
These are crazy times and difficult to emotionally navigate for many.
It can be hard to think of effective ways to “fix” what’s wrong with the world and very easy to believe that things won’t ever change when we can’t.
Sometimes we get so wrapped up in how we think about problems in the world – and our inability to do much of anything about them – that we become demoralized and feel powerless as a result.
Understand that as much as you may want to see things change for the better, you are not responsible for initiating changes on a global level.
It’s important to be mindful of the fact that you can only affect things that are within your power to influence or control. And as limited in scope as this may seem, it is enough to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those you connect with.
And it often starts by doing the kinds of things that you respect & admire when others do them and taking action in ways that you can always be proud of no matter how you are feeling.
