[Self Series] Believing in Yourself

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave (wo)man is not (s)he who does not feel afraid, but (s)he who conquers that fear”: Nelson Mandela.About two years ago, I visited Robben Island where Nelson Mandela and many others were held in prison for advocating for the rights of an oppressed majority of the South African population. It was said that the Island also hosted what was considered to be the first democracy of the nation: where men gathered in secrecy to discuss how they would bring change and restoration to their tired country and desperate people. But, even more piercing than walking the grounds where these great and innocent men were held in captivity was the former-imprisoned tour guide who added personal accounts of torment, anticipation, and hope. His testimony, his story of pain, healing, and restoration, joined with many others, inspired a nation to rise up out of oppression, recover from pain, and move into a period of forgiveness and restoration. His story, Mandela’s story, and all those other stories during the reign of Apartheid in South Africa inspired a nation to believe.What makes this act of faith, this act of courage, extraordinary is not the person behind it but, rather, the response of that person. You see, faith is an action, it is a response; it is not a person, and it is not attributed to one type of person. The courage that Nelson Mandela showed is accessible to us. The faith that Maya Angelou embodied is accessible to us. The hope that Martin Luther King Jr. preached to hundreds of thousands of longing people is accessible to us. We merely need to take the responsibility to acknowledge the transforming faith inside us and act out of that faith. We need to believe in ourselves.But, why; why should we believe in ourselves? We should believe in ourselves because we each have the capacity to do powerful things; powerful things for our own life and for the lives of others. The same power that Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., and Maya Angelou tapped into is accessible to us. Just as they made the conscious choice to use that power, so we can, too, use the same power within us. All we need to do is believe.So, we should first believe in ourselves and believe in the strength that is inherent in each one of us. It does not take an extraordinary person to be courageous. Real courage is an action taken on by ordinary people. But, you are more than ordinary. In fact, you are uniquely you. You have dreams and passions, hopes and aspirations, likes and dislikes, convictions and beliefs that make you uniquely you. So, the power you possess is uniquely yours. You will be able to use that power to impact the world in a way that no one else can. So, if an ordinary person can use extraordinary courage to impact the world, then certainly you can use your power all the more confidently to make a difference in your community, your country, and the vast world around us.Once you realize your power to make a difference, once you believe in yourself, then you will not help but be able to believe in your dreams. However big or small, attainable or far-fetched, they might be, your dreams deserve to be invested in because those dreams have the capacity to impact the world. Your unique imagination and creativity act as the fuel to ignite your dreams into realistic actions. So, boldly, confidently, and courageously act on your dreams. You may fail, you may get knocked down, but you may just soar. The possibility of soaring, then, is reason enough to invest in your dreams because the success of your dreams, the fruition of your courageous acts, may impact the world in a way that no one else could. Believe in yourself; believe in your dreams.Maya Angelou famously said, “What is a fear of living? It’s being preeminently afraid of dying. It is not doing what you came here to do, out of timidity and spinelessness. The antidote is to take full responsibility for yourself- for the time you take up and the space you occupy. If you don’t know what you’re here to do, then just do some good.” If I told you that your faith in yourself and your faith in your dreams would have the power to impact just one other person’s life, would that be reason enough for you to take action? You see, our dreams, and our faith in ourselves, are bigger than ourselves. Moreover, the collectivity of our dreams and the collectivity of our faith is an unstoppable force that can eradicate the deepest of oppression, empathize with the brokenhearted, and bring the most different of people together. Once we begin to see the power in ourselves and the collective power in each other, our world becomes just a bit smaller. So, invest in your dreams, believe in your power, because once you do, you are an unstoppable force that can make a difference in the world.