As I strolled towards the office door, anxious thoughts flooded through my mind. This was my seventh time. I had failed the previous six times. Each reaction to the failure had been different. At one time, I cried. At another time, I yelled at the instructor, at other times I just accepted my fate and walked away.
This time, my physical condition was different. I was nearly seven months pregnant. It was my driving test. I was hoping to pass the test before the baby arrived. I did not want the instructor to pass me because of my condition but on pure merit.
Before I left home, I prayed to God. The months preceding the test, I had studied the word and made up my mind to depend on God for help. This time my faith, hope and trust in God was strong. I encouraged myself in God’s word.
As the Instructor took me through Chigwell to do the test, I was attentive, did all the maneuvers and was so glad to hear. “Congratulations, you have passed the test”.
Who says encouragement must come from a person, place or thing? What if there is no one around to encourage you? What if it is a life and death situation and you need to make a decision whether to give in or hold on? What do you do? Do you just give up or throw in the towel? Do you walk away from it all?
There will be times when you have people around you but they would rather play it safe than take a chance at encouraging you. You may be aiming for a new level that they think you can never attain or could it be that they have tried the same thing you are aiming for and have failed many times. In their minds, they are trying to prevent you from experiencing the pain and disappointment they have gone through. Do you listen to them or do you encourage yourself?
We’ve all heard the saying that “quitters never win and winners never quit”. Both winners and quitters face challenges. While one decides to face the challenge head on, the other decides to walk away from it all and throw in the towel. What distinguishes a winner from a loser? It’s encouragement. Encouragement is the ability to persuade someone to continue something. It is the act of giving someone support, confidence or hope. While encouragement can come from well-meaning people, it can also come from ourselves. This article is aimed at inspiring you to encourage yourself when the situation seems bleak and you have no one to encourage you.
1. Think positive thoughts. Instead of thinking that this is the end of the road for this particular predicament, remind yourself that there might just be a way out. Replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts of how you can get out of this predicament. There must be at least one positive thing that you can think about. If it is an exam that you failed, you can encourage yourself that you can try again. If it is a bad medical report, there might be chances of alternative forms of surgery or medication that can help. While there is life, there is hope so open your mind to seeing things from a different perspective. Change your thinking pattern from that of being pessimistic to that of being optimistic. Think positive thoughts and do away with the negative. It might just work out this time.
2. Remind yourself of past victories. Remind yourself of other situations you’ve been through in which the odds were stacked against you but you came out victorious. If you could come out unscarred from that situation, then maybe you could just be lucky this time. Take a chance, this one might end in success, encourage yourself.
3. Think of other people who’ve been through similar situations and overcome them. There must be at least one person who has gone through something similar and come out victorious. If you can’t think of anyone, think of someone who has overcome another different but challenging circumstance. Surround yourself with positive examples and don’t go thinking about those who tried and failed. You don’t need that garbage.
4. Envision yourself winning. Picture yourself actually overcoming this obstacle. Picture yourself getting to the finishing line. See family and friends rejoicing with you. Dream about you being victorious. I would rather dream, be happy and fail than be moody and fail.
5. Surround yourself with encouraging music, watch movies about people that faced challenges and overcame them, read encouraging books, listen to inspiring stories. If you find yourself in a negative and discouraging situation where people are talking about others who have failed, quickly remove yourself from that environment. Be intentional about people you listen to, books you read and things you watch on the television. You want to quickly remove yourself from toxic environments. Just as a gardener will remove weed from his garden, you need to quickly remove yourself from toxic environments.
6. Lastly, there must be things in your life that you can be thankful for. Think about them and be thankful.
In conclusion, life will throw discouraging situations at you but you can encourage yourself and come out victorious. You are your greatest cheer leader. Encourage yourself.