Hello! Another week in the books!! I hope everything was fantastically incredible! As always, thank you for spending time with me!
It’s the 13th post, which I suppose I could have skipped, right?
I don’t mean not post this week, rather call this my 14th post, since after all, buildings often skip the 13th floor. Pause a moment, and ask yourself why this is the case? As in, do you really know why 13 is an unlucky number?
If you do, kudos to you! I appreciate trivial knowledge as much as anyone, so I am certainly impressed! However I didn’t, but thanks to the internet and my curiosity, I now have this bit of trivial information.
Before you go looking for yourself, here’s a word of caution: it’s totally underwhelming. I will never get those four minutes back, but now I know for whatever that’s worth.
What is more interesting to me is the reputation this number has suffered on flimsy, at best, logic at really no fault of its own. Since my birthday is on the 13th of a particular month, I am more sympathetic to that number, often citing it as my lucky number when those decisions are being made mostly in elementary school. I am an Enneagram 2, so I value everyone sharing in the fun!
In last week’s post, I mentioned not worrying about what people think unless there’s a pattern, which I want to pull out again here. While I didn’t use the word reputation, that is essentially what I was talking about; although unlike the number 13, we do have control over it. You’re doing great number 13!
In this lucky 13th post, I want to explore the positive reputation we can build in our own minds just by believing in ourselves, and more importantly, valuing who we are, exactly the way we are right now!
Take a moment right now to think about the biggest accomplishment of yours within the last few months. Everyone has one, so just find it already! For me, I finished writing the first chapter of my book in the middle of December, which was an intensely sublime feeling, even though it is only about 6% of my book. I had done something noteworthy on my way to a goal, while also validating my pursuit of writing. This is despite deciding I need to pull out a decent chunk of it, based on feedback I received from some readers, which I tend to agree with. Regardless, I am happy about it!
Now that you have your accomplishment in mind, think back to how it made you feel, not just at that moment, but the days and weeks afterwards. Did you have a high that altered your confidence in your abilities? I know I did! Over the course of the next several weeks, I volunteered to write a couple short pieces for work (not work related, rather items for newsletters), which I approached with eagerness and confidence. Also, I am hoping to finish up chapter two Sunday, which has become easier to work through for several reasons.
Since I talk about my writing often, I will give another brief example: I was part of a presentation at work with several others, though my contribution was higher on account of a leadership role I recently stepped into with this smaller group. Aftwards, someone complimented my portion, specifically around this new leadership role. This compliment helped me believe that I could be a good leader of this group, which I have taken into some of the meetings since.
In both my examples, undoubtedly yours as well, the accomplishment itself has strengthened our perception of our abilities. I realize the profundity is lacking in this statement; however, I believe we can get ahead of this, or even manufacture it on our own, unlike the unfortunate number 13. Essentially knowing ahead of time we can achieve whatever stands in front of us will help us achieve it!
We can do this by believing in ourselves, beyond that telling ourselves we can do great things, or we are fun, special, smart, attractive, creative, or anything we want.
I want to emphasize the act of actually saying the words, like in the mirror or into a camera, which may seem silly, but I totally believe it will work! Say the words often, believe them, then see what happens!
On the Facebook, I belong to several transgender support groups, one of which had the following question asked (paraphrased): How do those of you who look so beautiful do it? Without any hesitation, one thing came to my mind for what makes people beautiful….can you guess what I was thinking?
Confidence! I did not comment, though I believe I am beautiful, instead it was the overwhelmingly most popular response, so I figured what is one more. Keep in mind, this group usually has questions about makeup, clothes, hormones, among other specific questions, but none of these make us truly beautiful in the same way confidence does.
If only the number 13 had the ability to believe it was lucky, or simply neutral, maybe the outlook would improve. Perhaps people will generate disdain for a number like 41.
While that probably won’t happen, you can do something for yourself literally today! Give yourself a compliment! Anyone compliment will do, but can you connect it with something you did that was great? In other words, saying “I am nice” is one level, but if you can think of a particular instance of accepting someone into a group or sharing something, for which someone was thankful, recognize that!
Another topic I have on my list is the Law of Attraction, which I love! Sparing details for another week, this is the idea that positive thoughts and beliefs will attract positive results, while the negative is also true. I’ve seen it work in my life, so I encourage you to get started in yours!
So find the joy in who you are and what you can do! Remind yourself through compliments and encouragement! Maybe those two words from last week are making a difference? If so, that deserves a compliment!
Thank you again for reading!! It’s a compliment for every pair of eyes who see these words! Thank you for making this 13th post possible, which is my new favorite!
Until the 14th, have an amazing week!!