All of the country this morning, women are waking up in the afterglow of a magnificent conference. They have gone to a conference and have come home refreshed, enthusiastic and ready to take on the world and accomplish great things. The conferences were full of amazing speakers, mind-blowing, heart-wrenching discovery activities and inspirational messages. Today, the wake up in the real world. And now, life begins.
Some women will emerge this morning ready to go. These women have been truly transformed and they will move forward and continue the work they started at the conference. They may be nervous. They may be afraid. They may even be tentative. But, they will move forward. They will push forward step by step, action by action and eventually accomplish the great and wonderful things they dreamed of at the conference. We all applaud these women.
Other women will wake up this morning remembering how wonderful the conferences were but, they will not move forward. These women are afraid, perhaps paralyzed by the fear. The conference gave them the tools, information and knowledge they need to move forward, but did nothing to stop the fear. The conference just wasn’t enough to make them take the next step and start using what the conference taught them. Instead of waking up and feeling accomplished and ready to move forward, these women sit on the side of the bed before the get up and have a little sadness in the hearts. They are sad because they know they are not going to keep the promises they made to themselves and fellow conference attendees. These women should also be applauded.
They should be applauded because they recognize that something is missing and they are not happy about it. They should be applauded because since they recognize they are not doing what they should, they can be helped. If you have a friend who went to a conference this weekend that left here fired up and excited about the future, encourage her this morning. Let her know that it is okay to be scared about taking the next big steps. Let her know that you will support her, encourage her and help her on her journey. Let her know she is not alone as she takes this next big step in life. Start sending her text messages once a week to encourage her to stay on the path. In other words, do your job – be a friend by encouraging, inspiring and motivating your friend to be her best.
If you are this woman, literally stand up, encourage yourself, pat your own self on the back. Then go out and recruit a friend. Let your friend know that you want to make the changes or do the things you learned at your conference and that you need her encouragement, inspiration and motivation in order to succeed. Give your friend a chance to rise to the occasion and support you as you need. If she doesn’t go down your list and find someone else.
[Tweet “Sometimes you have to pat yourself on the back and be the encouragement you need!”]
If all else fails, encourage yourself! Push yourself. Write letters to yourself and mail them to yourself once a week saying all the encouraging, inspiring and motivational things you need to hear. Talk to yourself the way you would talk to a friend. Talk to yourself the way you want someone to talk to you. Be strong and hang in there. No matter who you are, you can do the great and wonderful things you desire for yourself. Like the words to the song in “The Wiz” say, “just believe in yourself, as I believe in you!”
Right now this is me. I am really doing my best to take things one day at a time and encourage myself. It is so important!
Talk to yourself like a friend would talk to you. GENIUS.
Yes ma’am. I’ve been encouraging myself in my new fitness journey.
This is so true. We really have to be our own cheerleaders and not rely on anyone else.
Self encouragement has really allowed for some great things to happen in my life this year. Staying positive and realistic is the key.
I am terrible at telling myself I am doing good. A trait I need to work on.
What a great quote! So inspiring! You always know what to say and the best way to do it! Love it!
This is so inspiring! I am definitely learning that if I give myself encouragement I find myself proud of who I am and ready to make changes and keep going forward.
In most of my endeavors, I have been doing the one pushing me to do better. I learned a long time ago, if you want to do something, you won’t succeed unless you are doing it for yourself. These conferences sound invigorating. I’d love to attend one.
Many of us neglect to give ourselves the encouragement we freely give others. Great post.
I love the quote! It’s ok to step back every now and again to give yourself encouragement. Thank you for sharing!
Positive encouragement can be really hard to give yourself. It’s an important part of taking some risk and pushing yourself through what can be a conceived obstacle.
I am my own biggest critic by far yet I am so encouraging to my kids it kinda comes as a surprise. I think I push myself too hard sometimes and it’s not always a good thing.
Loved this post! Whilst most of us are our own biggest critics, we need to be our own biggest supporters as well! Very important…
What a great quote. So inspiring and so spot on. You always know what to say and when to say it.
I love that quote and it is so true, sometimes all we need is to believe in ourselves.
Yes this is true…luckily I have a wonderful husband who does a great job of encouraging me along my blogging journeys!!
This is so great and it’s something I’ve always believed in. We absolutely need to be our own biggest cheerleader for everything in life!
I think you’re so right. I do encourage myself and push myself. Not as often as I’d like but I can use some times for that. The writing letters is very beneficial to me.
I try to remain positive and self encourage as much as possible. It definitely helps.