Self deprecation [adj.] - Belittling or undervaluing oneself; or one’s abilities.
Why do we beat ourselves up? We mortals who claim a higher consciousness than the animals that live here on earth with us yet, with all of our fancy talking and uber intelligence I’ve never encountered a fish who didn’t believe he could swim. Or the bird who successfully said, “Look, Mom, Dad, I’m not ready for such a grand leap of faith, so why don’t we wait another couple of years till I’m ready? I may fail. It’s a cat-eat-bird world out there and I just can’t risk it!”
Perhaps we’ve got it too easy. Or maybe we’ve got way too much time on our hands to sit around and conjure up excuses, distractions and elaborate reasons why we’re the Victim. Putting ourselves down while we blame our ineptitude on external forces, wallowing dramatically as to why we can’t possibly take responsibility for our own personal happiness. Instead we sit around yapping about how we coulda, shoulda, woulda if only so and so didn’t, or this and that hadn’t happened. When countered with the definitive “do it now!” advice, it’s still impossible because of a new this, that or the other.
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Your present situation is point A and your goal is point B. Your focused commitment and determination is the straight line. Start small or big, it’s your life. Anyone who wants to judge you is lacking joy in their own life, so ignore them.
Apply yourself to your goal day by day. If you skip a day or a couple of weeks of working on your dream, or begin to question the validity of your effort, ignore the voices of doubt and get back to work. One of the biggest failures in life is to give up. Repeat this Buddhist mantra whenever you fall off your wagon of dreams or disappoint yourself, “from this moment forward I…” add whatever it is you need to forgive yourself for and keep it moving. It’s kept me going for years now.
If the thought of how long it will take you to achieve your goal overwhelms you, put the timeline in a box, tape it up and bury it deep, deep down in the back of the closet. When I stop worrying about the “when will I finish and how I will finish,” I actually achieve my goals faster than anticipated. Be diligent and apply your attention on a consistent basis to your goal or dream and you’ll be amazed to find what you’ve achieved at the end of the day.
Now it’s possible you’ve been furiously battling away at your dreams for some time now and you haven’t found your level of personal satisfaction. There’s still hope. Re-examine your strategy.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” -Albert Einstein.
Don’t let that be you! Broaden your personal network, work on your goals every day as opposed to once a week, do something for someone else in honor of your dream, or look at a different goal to achieve first. You never know, that new goal you set or that volunteer project you take on can put you closer to your dreams than you could’ve ever imagine. We all have the ability to make or break ourselves. Are we really interested in coming in second to Tweety Bird or Nemo (the fish)? We could at least give them a run for their money if not do better, don’t you think?
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