“Don’t downgrade your dreams to match your reality. Upgrade your belief to match your vision.”
-Unknown
Have you ever heard the phrase, “Dreams do come true if you have the courage to pursue them?” When you hear of that phrase, what does it make you think of ? Does it makes you truly believe and think that you can do anything you put your mind to?
I remember growing up I would always hear that phrase, and I truly believed it. Every time I heard it I would get excited and dream about the great possibilities of the future. It challenged me to dream big and without limits. When I look back I realize that the belief I had in myself and my childlike faith is what pushed me to dream big. I knew without a doubt that with God anything was possible.
As I got older one thing I realized is that life tends to challenge that belief you have in yourself. You begin to encounter failures and it starts to challenge the way you see yourself. Life teaches you some hard lessons and you become fearful of the future and then the doubt begins to creep in. That was my experience, and those experiences caused me to ask myself questions like, ” Where was the belief I had in myself as a little girl?” What happened? Was it that I grew up and learned things that taught me that life wasn’t as easy as it seemed? Or was it that I encountered responsibilities and struggled to learn the balance of how to fight for my dreams while living my reality? Maybe there are many reasons why my belief in myself changed, but I knew if I wanted to get it back I would have to fight for it.
One thing i’ve learned through life experiences is that what you believe is what you will see happen in your life. Your belief triggers your actions. If you believe a certain thing is possible you will begin to implement the actions and develop the habits that will help you to achieve a certain thing. I remember before I started my health journey, losing weight and changing my whole lifestyle seemed impossible. I wasn’t accustomed to eating healthy and it all just seemed like a lot of work if I could completely be honest. I didn’t really believe that change was possible so I didn’t put in the work to achieve the goal.
When I finally got to the place where I got tired of the way things were and always feeling tired and just really wanted better for myself I started to change that way I looked at the journey towards health. I told myself if I just focused on taking things one step at a time maybe it would be possible. Then I reminded myself that its a marathon and not a sprint. I also reminded myself of all the things I accomplished over the years that seemed impossible, but was made possible when I truly believe and changed the way I thought about the goal.
Once I started to truly believe I could change my life, I did. I took baby steps. There were moments where I messed up and days that were hard to push through but I still believed that it would be possible if I kept going. Fast forward to where I am now, I am crushing these health goals one step at a time. It took a long time to develop the right habits and change the way I thought about health. This is not just a goal for me but it’s a lifestyle. Over these past four weeks I’ve lost four pounds and my goal for this month is to lose five more. I am determined to work at it everyday with tracking what I eat and staying consistent with exercising. This process of believing in myself didn’t happen overnight I truly had to change my thinking and focus on taking things one step at a time. Now that I’m really beginning to see results my belief in this process and myself is through the roof. These are three things this process has taught me about believing in myself:
1.) Believing in yourself will require fight
Getting to the place where you truly believe in yourself will require you fighting against the doubt, fear and unbelief that life experiences has taught you.
2.) Believing in yourself will require changing your mindset
You will have to change the way you view challenges and remind yourself that you are capable if you take it one step at a time. Reflect on the things that you accomplished in the past that required you to believe in yourself.
3.) Believing in yourself will require focus and work
“Belief triggers the power to do.” What you believe will manifest in your actions. In order for my belief to become a reality I needed to put in the work and do whatever it takes to keep myself focused and on track. “Dreams don’t work unless you do”
The dreams that you have are possible to reach, but the belief you have in yourself and the work you put in plays a critical part in being able to achieve those dreams. Everything starts with a belief. “Believe you can and you will.” I hope that this encourages you to continue to fight for your future and your dreams. Don’t give up just because you haven’t seen results yet, change the way you think about the goal, fight to reach it and put in the work to achieve it. Thanks so much for reading!
What’s one thing you are believing to see happened? Do you truly believe it’s possible? Comment below, I would love to hear your story.
Intentional Hope 