I didn’t plan on sharing this audio journal entry with ya’ll that I recorded before my fourth Muay Thai class. I mean, I was anxious and vulnerable, bruh—as I always am whenever I tackle something new and challenging.
I decided it was ok to share because I didn’t reveal anything personal, and because, well, I’m proud of how far I’ve come when it comes to keeping my self-image and thoughts to a positive level.
What do I mean by that?
We all face stress. Challenges. Mistakes that can make us think, “I’m such an idiot,” or “I’m slower than most people,” or “I’ll never get that right.”
My friends, be careful with such thoughts.
Thoughts are power.
A declaration or a prescriptive lens that will shape and alter the reality around us.
Remember the quote in I'm Thinking of Ending Things? Here’s a refresher…
Sometimes a thought is closer to truth, to reality, than an action. You can say anything, you can do anything, but you can’t fake a thought.
Thoughts shape our truth. Our belief system. Our reality. Powerful, ain’t it? Of course. With such a powerful tool at our disposal, we must always be mindful of the reality we constantly shape around us.
In the recording below, I caught myself declaring something negative. That, in most skills in the world, I can be slow to level up. “Yes,” I said a moment after, trained to always put a positive twist in my declaration, “but I don’t see this as a weakness but a strength. Where most are content with leveling up to level five or ten, I keep going. There is no limit.”
Do I bring this up to brag about my self-confidence?
God, no! (A confidence that took me years and a great deal of adversity to form, by the way!)
I bring it up because I’m an idealist. Because I care. Because I want people to be the best and happiest version of themselves possible. We can get there. We can all get there. YOU can get there. I know it.
It’s easy to be a realist in this world, to accept things the way they are and settle for something less than you deserve. To be an idealist, however, especially when you’ve faced the cruel realities of this world, takes a great deal of courage.
Find that courage.
And keep that flame a ‘burnin’, my friend.