Who Am I?
Who are you?
This week I took a look inside my mind to find myself. Who am I, what do I stand for and believe in? Self-image is a very important piece of the puzzle to having a positive mindset and self-confidence. How we see ourselves and how others see us… well for those who have been following along, you probably already know it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks of us. What matters is how you see yourself and that you believe it.
All my life I dreamt about being a world cup downhill ski racer. For as long as I can remember, my dad (Glenn) would bring home VHS recordings of all the World Cup races that season. I would watch the famous Kitzbühel downhill over and over, thinking “one day I’ll stand on the world cup podium, just like them”… Forwarding through the years, more and more outside influences had me questioning myself and my abilities.
“You’re too small” was one of many criticizing remarks I received, along with…
“You’re too old “
“You aren’t strong enough to be a Downhiller”
My personal favourite – “You are Glenn’s son, you should be winning by a bigger margin”
The list goes on and on, unfortunately, I have experienced this throughout my career. Lucky for me I learned at a young age to believe in me, both my parents gave me this gift. Whenever I was really struggling with something, I was always reassured and given the choice to think for myself. Was I wrong sometimes, and got injured or failed… of course. But that is growth, I will proudly say I would not be who I am without experiencing failure or enduring such hardship. I am very grateful to have learned this when I did.
Society is tough and judgemental. I have to admit, I’ve opened up Instagram a few times and became jealous of others. Comparing myself to others and then putting them down in hopes to make myself feel better or lift myself up. I am willing to bet many of you have also done something similar. Casting a shadow on another… or throwing shade as the kids say nowadays, doesn’t brighten us.
In last week’s section, we talked about attitude and how others are not in control of our attitudes. We are solely in control of how we feel about everything. The same theory applies here with self-belief.
Others can have a huge impact on you, criticizing who you are, what you’re capable of and believe in. Talking you out of dreams or ideas and putting pressure on you hoping you will fail. Yes, it is very hard to block these outside influences, but at the end of it, you choose your thoughts so you can choose what to believe.
I say believe in you! and encourage others, Smile, be kind and enjoy life.
If you have a chance this week, check out the movie “Cool Runnings”. This film is filled with lots of great reminders to always believe in ourselves and stay true to who we are.
