The Light at The End of The Tunnel Pt.2

This is Part 2 of the article that deals with those depressing points in our lives. These lines are derived from the invaluable advice that I've gotten from some amazing people through the years.

Life is temporary. 

And so is everything we encounter along the way.

Every time it rains, it stops raining. Every time you get hurt, you heal. Darkness is always followed by light! You get reminded of this every morning, but still you  forget and instead choose to believe that the night lasts forever. It won’t. Nothing lasts forever.

So if things are good right now, enjoy it. It won’t last forever.  

If things are bad, don’t worry because it won’t last forever either!

Other peoples' negativity is not your problem.

Be positive when negativity surrounds you. Smile when others try to bring you down. It’s an easy way to maintain your enthusiasm and focus. When other people treat you poorly, keep being you. Don’t ever let someone else’s bitterness change the person you are. You should not take things too personally, even if it seems personal. Rarely do people do things because of you. They do things because of them. 

Above all, don’t ever change just to impress someone who says you’re not good enough. Change because it makes you a better person and leads you to a brighter future.  People are going to talk regardless of what you do or how well you do it.  So worry about yourself before you worry about what others think. If you believe strongly in something, don’t be afraid to fight for it. Great strength comes from overcoming what others think is impossible.

I've unfortunately met many of these elitists. They always assume that their way of doing things is the epitome of perfection. Moreover, they also assume that there is nothing more to a person other than what is apparent to them at face value. But the most annoying part is that they don't acknowledge the value of any skills other than those which they themselves posses. 

Well, dealing with such individuals is a part of life too. And the earlier you get a taste of it, the better you'll be able to handle them effectively.

That's all for this topic. Hope you all enjoyed this experimental format! Let me know how it resonates with you in the comments.

Signing Off,

Shawn Kenneth Fernandes.

Don't Wimp Out!

Confidence is a topic which has been done till death. Almost everyone must've come across some kind of formulaic article which teaches you how to raise your self confidence and the like.

The truth of the matter is that a high level of confidence is not something that can be instilled into a person just by reading a few lines. 

It has to be drilled through actions and practice. It's not a fad, it's a lifestyle.

It all starts with correcting the simple bad habits you've accumulated over your lifetime. I readied a lot of stuff which I wanted to say here, but then I came across a mesmerizing article which not only had most of what I wanted to say, but then some. 

So, courtesy that article (Credits at the end), here are some things which you need to do get into the confident lifestyle;

Confront life’s issues at the root before the disease can spread any farther. Problems left unaddressed have a way of multiplying as the days, weeks and months go by. Have an uncomfortable conversation with your partner today instead of sweeping an inconvenient truth under the rug, putting trust at risk.

Take ownership of your thoughts and actions. Don’t blame the traffic for being tardy at work; Accept that you were late. Don’t excuse your short-comings with excuses like “I don’t have the time” or “I’m just not good enough”; Make the time and they keep on improving until you are good enough.

Don’t let fear dominate your lives. Things you are afraid of doing are often the very same things that you need to do in order to evolve into the person you are meant to be.

Don’t get caught up in negative feedback. While you should care about the well-being of others and aim to make a positive impact in the world,  don’t get caught up in negative opinions that you can’t do anything about. Know that you true friends will accept you as you are.

Keep no tolerance for unnecessary, self-inflicted drama. Don’t feel the need to insult friends behind their backs, participate in gossip about fellow co-workers or lash out at folks with different opinions. Be comfortable in who you are that you feel no need to look down on other people.

Know that you should not be competing with any other person. Compete with no other individual except the person you were yesterday. Every person is living a story so unique that drawing comparisons would be an absurd and simplistic exercise in futility.

Keep no interest in pleasing every person they meet. Not all people get along, and that’s just how life works. Focus on the quality of their relationships, instead of the quantity of them.

Make use of whatever resources you have, no matter how big or small. All things are possible with creativity and a refusal to quit. Don’t agonize over setbacks, but rather focus on finding a solution.

Highly confident people take action without

hesitation. Every day, they remind themselves,

“If not me, who?”

Don’t limit yourself to Plan A. Make use of any and all weapons that are at your disposal, relentlessly testing the effectiveness of every approach, until you identify the strategies that offer the most results for the least cost in time and effort.

And for a good end to this article:

Don’t accept articles on the Internet as truth just because some author “said so”. Look at every how-to article from the lens of their unique perspective. 

Maintain a healthy skepticism, making use of any material that is relevant to your life, and forget about the rest. While articles like these are a fun and an interesting thought-exercise, highly confident people know that they are the only person with the power to decide what “confidence” means.

Signing Off,
Shawn Kenneth Fernandes

P.S: Inspiration and credits to "15 Things Highly Confident People Don't Do.", Lifehacker.org.