All You Need is Confidence and You can do it!

All that crap you get about 'You just gotta believe in yourself' and 'Trust yourself' actually means something. As an ignorant individual, I chose to let myself hear those words of wisdom but in the end, it still went through one ear and out the other.

I love reading self help articles and those how I can improve my life guides. I love hearing stories of people getting in control of their lives and how they managed to do it in a few easy simple steps that any ordinary person can follow. Unfortunately, many of us are one of those 'side watchers'.  We are part of the group of people who sit on the side and watch as everyone's lives improve and complain about how dull and depressing our lives are. The thing with reading self help guides is that you actually have to believe that what you are aiming for and trying to achieve is within your boundaries. Most people think that they believe in themselves but after this spontaneous burst of 'I believe in myself power', you realise that you've lost total interest and or realise that you were stupid enough to have even thought of trying.

I am not superwoman nor am I catwoman or any 'woman' or 'girl' who has supernatural powers beyond human reasoning. This also means that I'm pretty much an ordinary individual whom complains about how boring her life is and has a pride bigger than Mr. Uppity's nose. But in actual fact I am not just any ordinary person, but am one of the luckiest people alive. How do I know? Because I am surrounded by many people who love me and have total faith in me. Why is it that they can believe in me but I can't? It's not just one person who knows that I have the potential to achieve what I want, but many do. In case you've been wondering, I'm referring to my family, the people who will never be able to turn their backs on me and will always be there to catch me when I fall.

I have been playing the piano for a very long time. I did exams for a little while but stopped because of the pressure and am now playing piano for leisure. I like to play piano by ear meaning I listen to music and then play it on the piano with no sheets. By doing this it has definitely improved my aural skills. Sadly, it has probably worsened my normal conversational listening skills. Aside from playing piano by ear, I also constantly download music sheets from the internet and print them out to play, most of which end up being tossed aside because I think I don't have enough skill to play them. Today I proved myself wrong. I always said to myself that 'I can't play scales or any fast pieces because my hands are not suited to play piano and I can't even stretch over an octave'. This excuse I always give myself can no longer be used again as of today. Why? Because today, I believed in myself. I let my heart and brain take full control of my body and I was able to play 3 pages fluently of a piece that I would say is amazingly impossible.

How is it that I was able to? And why was it today?

Today, I was in the library with my friend Winnie. Winnie is an amazing artist whose skills could surpass even Leonardo Davinci's skills. I really admire her talent and also have an interest in drawing. So I asked Winnie, 'What are some tips that you could give me so that I can draw better?' She replied with a 'Make sure that you draw the lines, not sketch them'. So I asked her 'And why should I do that?'. With an exasperated sigh she replied with a 'Because that's what my drawing teacher said. Don't draw sketchy lines. You have to draw clear long lines'. That was when I realised what her teacher meant. Draw clear long lines which shows that you are confident and that you trust your hand to draw it accordingly, sketchy lines show doubt. You must have confidence to be able to achieve a better result.

I found it a bit depressing that it was only now that the solution to all my problems only came to me today.

I have been lacking confidence, not knowledge and today, I'll put this newly found solution to good use.

So you see, all you need to do is draw a clear path to your goal and follow it.