Why Believing You Can do Something is the First Step

You need to be your own cheerleader

Anne Peterson
Sep 4, 2018 · 5 min read
Photo by Andreas Chu on Unsplash

Nine things! They say it takes at least nine positive things to offset one negative.

We have to be on guard with our thoughts. We have to constantly fight the negatives and discard them or we won’t have a chance.

All of us have things we want to accomplish in life. Dreams, goals, even little desires we’ve never shared with anyone. But something may be holding us back and it’s not what you think it is. It might be you. Why believing you can do something is the first step.

Once I actually got to hold a human brain in my hands. I’m not kidding. I was surprised the whole class didn’t raise their hands when the professor asked who’d like to do it.

I knew this was my one chance and I wasn’t gonna miss it. As I held that organ, I was amazed how I felt inside. All of us have one. And millions of thoughts travel through our minds each day. But sometimes we get tripped up with some of them.

Learning to drive

Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash

When I was in high school I was younger than my classmates. So when it came time to register for Driver’s Education, I needed my parents to sign. My dad said no and in our household nothing trumped a no.

He told me he would teach me how to drive. But that never happened either.

So I grew up, got married and still didn’t know how to drive. At first, it didn’t bother me. We lived in Chicago, I could get anywhere I needed to go with public transportation.

Our mom never learned how to drive a car because she said she was too nervous. Maybe I was like mom. Yeah, that was it, I was too nervous.

But after being married a few years we had a child and being a military family, sometimes my husband had to go to the field. What if he was gone and our son got sick? Okay, I decided, it doesn’t matter that I am 30, I have to learn how to drive.

At first, my husband was teaching me. That did not work out.

I was trying to learn on our little Le Car which was a stick shift. We were in Colorado which had a lot of hills. And once again I let off on the clutch too soon and it killed.

“See, you’ll never do it,” my husband Mike said.

“Watch me,” I said. And I did it perfectly.

And then I fired him.

Perseverance

My girlfriend, Cindy offered to teach me. Things were moving along fine. Yes, the negative thoughts would still come. Especially since my former teacher failed to boost my sagging confidence. But with Cindy, each right decision earned me a bit of praise.

“See, I knew you could do it!”

Finally the day came for my driving test. I passed the written part and simply took a deep breath as I sat behind the steering wheel.

“Make a right turn at the corner,” the instructor said.

Immediately my thoughts filled my mind.

If you go slow, he’ll think you don’t know what you’re doing.
Yeah, make sure you don’t go slow.
Don’t slow down!!

I turned that corner like I was in a race. Okay, maybe not everyone would have done it.

Once the instructor caught his breath he said, “Mrs. Peterson! That was dangerous!”

Needless to say, I did not pass that day.

And then the barrage of thoughts flooded my mind. One after another.

See, you couldn’t do it.
What made you think you could do it?
You’ll never learn how to drive.

And I had a decision to make. Would I let my thoughts dictate who I was, or would I rise up and show them.

The next day, I took my confidence and walked into the DMV and walked out with my license.

I had a chance to become my own cheerleader in life and it’s helped tremendously. Like the time I became a returning student. My biggest challenge was getting to school and back without getting lost for the 40 minute ride. But once again, I decided to combat the negative thoughts.

You’ll never get this.
This is the third time you got lost.
What is the matter with you?

And I walked across the stage two years later and received my diploma, knowing full well that I had faced those negative thoughts and won.

Me with my classmates from Judson University

I don’t know what you’re facing today, but I do know that you may have thoughts that are similar to mine.

Maybe they are things that were told to you when you were younger. Or maybe someone on your journey said those things to you while growing up. It doesn’t matter.

You can refute them. You can believe in yourself, and you can go after what you want.

Believing you can do something is the first step.

What about you?

What are some of the thoughts that you have to deal with?
What have you accomplished because you went for it?
I’d love to hear from you.

Life is hard. I write words to make it softer.

If you like my writing, join my email list and as a bonus, choose one of my free Ebooks: Real Love, or Helping Someone in Grief: 17 Things You Need to Know.

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Anne Peterson

Written by

Poet, Speaker, published author of 15 books. Visit Anne’s website www.annepeterson.com to hear about free ebooks and her latest book.

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