Positivity: Not Holding Yourself Back
The only thing that holds most of us back is ourselves.
We live in a world that is so full of possibility, opportunity and potential that it’s rather staggering. Yet we often believe that the world is actually full of lack, or limitations and impossibility.
I am not writing about pie-in-the-sky, rose-colored glasses optimism, I am writing about reasonable, fully accessible options we often overlook or disregard or simply don’t completely see.
I have been writing for most of my life. I submitted countless inquiries to publishers and agents and the traditional route to publishing. It’s been a tough road to hoe, and I really wanted to get an agent and/or a major publisher behind my work. I still want that.
But I decided that rather than sit on numerous completed works and do nothing, I would use the tools available to me and publish myself. I could do all the necessary assembly and self-promote, and voila – I am now a published author.
This is not without risks. Sales and marketing are challenging, and wholly on me. I have to find and make ways to promote my works and to get my name out there. But when all is said and done I am not just an aspiring author – I am a published writer. I may not yet have tens of thousands of sales of my works, but they are out there, and the possibility of further success is in front of me.
I could have chosen to stay the course, continue to write my books and seek an agent and open calls from publishers and focus my attention and intentions there. However, I decided that while that is still a course of action to pursue, I should also take the opportunity before me to put my works out there and use new methods to achieve the same goal.
I have over the course of my life on more than one occasion held myself back. I didn’t think I was good enough or I let some fear of the unknown or succeeding or failing stay my hand. But knowing that the only thing generally holding me back is me, I can choose a different course and do and be more.
This is an enormous generator of positivity. I am doing things that make me feel proud and happy and accomplished, and those are positive feelings. When I feel more positive I feel more confident, and that in turn will let me do the things I want to do with my life and be the person I most wish to be.
Positivity can be found in many unexpected places.
Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action. Knowing that we are most held back from our desires by our own selves, we can work to overcome self-imposed limitations. When we see that we are held back by our own self-judgements and beliefs, and we work on finding and taking actions to change them we empower ourselves. When we feel empowered, we often spread that feeling to others around us, and as such can build more positive feelings. We can use the positive feelings this generates to dissolve negative feelings. When we take away negative feelings, we open up space to let in positive feelings, and that is something we can be grateful for. Gratitude leads to happiness. Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude. Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.
This is the one hundred nineteenth entry of my Positivity series. It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog and spread the positivity.
In relation to Positivity, check out my Five Easy Steps to Change the World for the Better.
