BEFORE THE WORLD BELIEVES IN YOU

 


 

“The more you believe in yourself,

the more the world believes in you.”

Isa Zapata

 

Faith in one’s abilities doesn’t come overnight. If it does, such faith in oneself – such self-belief – can be dangerous. Self-belief should come gradually, through great deal of self-awareness, and lots of self-introspection…

Else, it’s overconfidence… As I said, it can be dangerous.

What one is good at, what work one can do exceptionally well – yes, the sooner one gets this awareness, the sooner comes one’s self-belief.




Two days ago, I was holding a programme for the students of a premier Architecture college in Mumbai. The subject of the programme was ‘Self-confidence and Communication Skills’. Towards the end, when I asked those young kids to ask me any question that bothered them, many did. But, two questions from these two girls, particularly, carried a worthy response from my side…

One of these two girls gathered her courage and said, “Sir, I am a shy person… I keep a journal and express my feelings in it. But, I have kept it private. Does it really help to become a confident person in life.”

“It does… It definitely does,” I said without even blinking. “That’s how a shy kid, who is full of self-doubts and anxiety, should start. I was a chronically shy and anxious kid at your age. I hid from the world assuming I was worthless… I constantly compared myself with others and felt inferior deep within. Then came the dream to become a fine teacher and writer. But, I had to beat my fears. Thus, I started scribbling my every feeling – happy, sad, mad, all – in my notes, which you call ‘Journal’… and, as I did this private exercise, I started feeling good about myself… Slowly, I started showing them to a few close friends, who said, “This is beautiful… Inspiring!”

I told the two hundred young kids, “That’s how I started building up my self-confidence…and, that’ how you all have to. Embrace your feelings… They are yours and they are the doors to your freedom.”

The other girl, said this: “Sir, I do a lot of creative work. But, everybody thinks it is not good enough.”

“Young girl, what do you think about your creative work… Is good enough?” I quickly asked.

The girl, evidently, was hesitant to respond… The answer was not coming…

“Now look at this: If you don’t think you are good enough, how on earth can you expect others to do?”

I looked at the packed auditorium and said: “The only person whose unflinching validation you need is you. Others’ validation is irreverent.”

I have these words of Napoleon Bonaparte:

“Unless you spread your wings,

You’ll have no idea how far you can fly.”

All I did, through my own journey - from feeling worthless to worthwhile - is, that I spread my wings slowly and steadily and realized, that I possessed incredible power in my soul – yes, to fly far and high…




The young aspiring architects have no other way to fly far and high… They have to spread their wings, slowly and steadily… They have to believe in themselves totally, before the world could believe in them…

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic’s: 1. Aditi Chakraborthy  2. Rashmi Sondhi (From their gardens)

Video: arqags79/Paul Simon & Garfunkel

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