“With the realization of one’s own potential and one’s own ability, one can build a better world.” - Dalai Lama Have you ever felt unsure, uncertain or incapable?
Have you ever found that you were unappreciative of your own abilities due to pressures from others, social media, society’s expectations, or the worldly view? Perhaps you need to believe in yourself, take the leap and trust one’s own ability. You know best what you need right now, no one else does because they are not you. A recent article titled, A Trauma Psychologist Weighs in on the ‘Motivational’ Pressures During a Quarantine brings to light the importance of our messaging about how individuals choose to spend there time during quarantine. One quote shared from a yoga instructor basically says if you don’t accomplish anything during quarantine you are .basically not driven and have no discipline to accomplish anything. Jeremy Haynes tweeted: If you don’t come out of this quarantine with either: 1.) a new skill 2.) starting what you’ve been putting off like a new business 3.) more knowledge You didn’t ever lack the time, you lacked the discipline A few friends had shared this article through social media and when I saw this quote I was like wow, let your privilege speak and you better check it! This hurt in a couple ways because I’m part of an organization that believes in healthy people and healthy communities - wellbeing is different for everyone - we could be in striving mode or surviving mode. The other as a human being understanding that none of us have ever experienced this type of pandemic before. We all need to look at ourselves and check our privilege! Many of you who read my blog know that I enjoy power lifting and creative writing, well I haven’t done much of anything lately and I’m okay with that. Unexpected situations place us needing to be engaged in different ways. We do not need to tell people what we believe they should be accomplishing during this unprecedented time. I chose to write about confidence this week because I feel it is important to share that it is okay if you are not accomplishing much now. I’ll be vulnerable for a moment, I have had to really spend time with my faith and giving myself pep talks because over the past three weeks I’ve been finding myself in the space of surviving versus striving. I can only speak to my experience and lately I feel like this quote by Sheryl Sandberg defines best how I have felt lately as I juggle taking care of my fiancé during his recovery after a horrific car accident, assisting my son with his sixth grade work, teaching my own students, and considering how to best be a productive teacher/scholar/mentor, And is there a pandemic going on? ”DONE IS BETTER THAN PERFECT.” After I let that quote run around in my head and it is the end of the day I ask...wait, have I showered today, nah, I’ll get to it tomorrow. All I’m saying is if you are feeling pressured to accomplish more and messaging has you feeling like your not accomplishing much don’t feed into the hype. Consider what you need, your family needs and colleagues need. I’m very thankful that I have had quite a bit of support but still struggle some days. I think about individuals who may not have as much support (me checking my privilege) . I think about this with my son too, he has parents who have the ability to assist him with technology and answer questions while navigating school at home. So maybe, just maybe we need to shine light to show each other what we are doing right now is not perfect but getting done. You are capable of knowing what is best for you now. There is no need to feel pressure by what you see or believe others are doing right now. You know your self best. Continue to survive if you are surviving, continue to strive if you are striving. Shine your light and remain confident in the situation. You got this!
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