I can still remember the first time I got on a stage, when I was still very young. Family and friends were overwhelmingly supportive for my efforts and preparation. That day would be the first day to perform in front of a large (considering my age) audience. I was 8 years old at the time, and I would be playing some classical tunes on the piano. It was like a student’s concert, where the top students would have a chance to play a few pieces.
Nervous and sweaty, I got up on that stage, took a deep breath and started playing away. I had prepared really hard, not only in terms of performing well, but being able to control my emotions and anxiety. When you try to perform a musical piece by heart at an age of 8 years old, you can understand that the first public appearance and performance can be really weird. That was a time in which I had to train myself (with the support of my parents) to control emotions, have control of the situation and make sure I deliver very good results.
The reason I’m making this post is because of the symbolism behind it. During our lives, we will have different types of challenges to deal with. Odds will often be stacked up against us, and we will be fighting something that appears to be an uphill battle. Preparation is key: both in terms of performance and managing your emotions. Whenever you are going through a tough part in your life, always try to remember that logic and common sense is what’s going to get you out of that situation. Being happy or sad about something, won’t change a thing (only the way you see things.) So try to have a perspective that isn’t influenced by your inner emotional world. You need to have a clear vision of what is it you have to do. Blocking that image and flooding your brain with unnecessary emotions, believe me won’t solve anything. It’s more likely to “blind” you from what you should be doing.
I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. But you have to be frequent before you are good at it. Practice is what’s going to get you there. Luckily for me, my first concert went well and I controlled myself pretty well. But that has to do with the fact that I control situations a little bit better. If you are looking to improve yourself, you need to understand that times will come when you will lose control. And that’s okay: because after that’s done, you can learn from your mistake and make sure you perform better the next time. If you walk into that challenge with a mindset of: I’m going to winning either way (even via the education route), then you should be good to go. You can’t expect from yourself to know everything, all the time. I think people are too hard on themselves and many times expect way too many things from themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I’m the first one to tell you to think big of yourself, because you really have a lot more potential to achieve. But at the same time, understand that it’s good that you learn new things and gain new experiences every day. Imagine a world in which everyone knew everything: boring would be the word to describe it.
No one is perfect, and no one can say “I know enough, let’s go to sleep now.” The minute you do that you are waiting for the day you die. You always need to make sure you are building yourself, improving yourself and are getting closer to your fullest potential every single day. Improving the way you perceive and control things (in my opinion) is essential. Which is why I made this post. I hope I didn’t lose you in this parallelism. Remembering that first “challenge” for me at age 8, really reminds me of the God given potential I have to achieve a lot more. This way whenever I face challenges, I can always look up to God for help and guidance. And then I can be in a better position to control my actions and end results.
Hopefully you gained something fruitful from this post. If you are curious in regards to who am I and what is this blog all about, you can learn here.
Make sure you follow the upcoming posts. I will try to keep things as rational as possible.