The Courage to Believe

“Monks have not come to the monastery to escape from the realities of life but to find those realities: they have felt the terrible insufficiency of life in a civilization that is entirely dedicated to the pursuit of shadows.”~ Thomas Merton

Believing in yourself is easy enough when life’s going exactly how you want, and you feel on top of the world. In those moments when we’re soaring in flow and deeply rooted in our essence, it seems like we’ll never have another moment of self-doubt ever again.

But inevitably, we exit our flow, ideas go belly-up, and we’re left stumbling over pieces of broken dreams. Believing in ourselves feels almost impossible, and we wonder how we ever pulled it off in the first place.

You see, being a businesswoman means you believe in something enough to act on it and keep going even when you’re knocked down. Believing in yourself is the first step to building a profitable business because if you don’t believe in yourself, you won’t have the courage to start your business in the first place, so you’ll never get it off the ground. And that, of course, means you won’t get the chance to make your own special contribution to the world. Gloomy prospect, right?

The courage to believe, then, begins with the courage to believe in yourself, to trust your ideas, your instincts, and your flow. It begins with acknowledging that no one else sees the world quite like you do, so no one else can rock the stage quite like you can. You might have the same ideas as somebody else, but I can guarantee that if you dig deep enough for your own special sauce, you’ll splash your flair all over executing those ideas and create something unique to you.

Believing in yourself means being kind to yourself. It means dropping the self-hate, negative self-talk, energy vampires, and relationships/situations that eat away at your confidence, self-esteem, and self-worth. It means embracing self-love, positive self-talk, energy boosts, and the relationships/experiences that amp up your confidence, self-esteem, and self-worth. Believing in yourself is daring to discover who you are deep inside so you can beam bright and feel richly fulfilled doing your life’s work.

And how do you believe in yourself? By getting to know and trust your voice through journaling, meditation, and other contemplative practices. Maybe you’ll discover yourself behind the lens, easel, or potter’s wheel, but whatever it is, uninhibited self-expression will reveal the truth of your being so you can luxuriate in it. 

When you record your ideas, hopes, dreams, and desires, you start to piece together the mosaic of your Soul and your life. Figuring out what makes you tick makes you familiar with your inner workings, and the more time you spend with yourself, the more you get to see how worthy you are of your own love and trust.

When you’re grounded in your truth, you build up the courage to believe in yourself even when you fumble because your mistakes don’t diminish your self-worth or your inner genius, and you learn to separate your results from how you feel about yourself. This courage keeps you from spiraling into crippling shame each time you stumble or fall short of your expectations.

Business is a risky game, and if you’re not adequately fueled by belief, you’re going to crash and burn so bad you won’t be able to get back up again. You know those people with a string of failed businesses behind them who keep going until they find their sweet spot and raving fans? 

Such entrepreneurs have an unshakable faith in themselves and their abilities, and they know that just because they haven’t gotten it right yet doesn’t mean they won’t get it right at all. They’re willing to try and try again because their belief protects them against the worst of the falls and disappointments, and so they can keep experimenting until they hit solid gold. And that, my dears, is how you deal with pieces of broken dreams when things don’t go quite the way you hoped. Separating your confidence, self-esteem, and self-worth from the results of your experiments keeps you largely unscathed by the disappointment of failure.  

Will you still doubt yourself? Probably, but you won’t give up because your inner critic rages, you’re obviously a hack who can’t make your dreams happen. Failure does not mean you’re a reject, it just means you’re yet to find your groove. Keep exploring!

 Believing in yourself is a daily process. There’ll be days you glow and days you barely flicker, but if you can remember to trust your instincts and your self-worth, you’ll keep finding the courage to believe in yourself no matter what. And for the days you just can’t seem to get your head right, reach out to your support network to buoy you up and refill your well. 

We flourish in community, so it’s worth it to cultivate a network that comes through for you when you’re floundering and dances with you when you’re flowering.

How do you find the courage to believe?