By Alex Davies
“If we want our future to be different than our past, we have to start doing things differently now.”
Dana addresses the group of new Leap to Confidence students, and the excited buzz of their comments and insight fills the room with a new energy. One woman at the back table raises her hand and points out that the word “now” when reversed spells out another word, “won.” The instructors and students smile at this fantastic thought. When we can live in the now, then we have won.
It’s the first Leap to Confidence program of 2016, one of eight that will be hosted around the county, and the participants are already engaged and enthusiastic about the possibilities. Together, the class creates a list of what more confidence would help them achieve.
More confidence will allow me to…
- Use my strengths to empower myself and others.
- See things in myself that others see but I don’t see yet.
- Stop doubting myself.
- Push past fear.
- Let go of how I think other people will judge me so that I can trust and live in the now.
“Just writing this down makes me feel more confident that I will
accomplish it,” remarks one woman. Another reflects, “It’s been so long since someone asked me what I want to do.”
Instructor Kelley Grimes whispers, “We get paid to do this. I could cry.”
After weeks of planning and prep, it’s satisfying to be underway. And hearing the aspirations of the class members feels a little like setting New Year’s intentions.
Perhaps your New Year’s goals are already well underway. Or maybe, your resolutions never really left the gate, sputtering to a quick end.
Here are two thoughts that might help you continue or even restart your 2016 goals with confidence.
- If we want our future to be different than our past, we have to start doing things differently now. And if we want to start doing things differently, then we have to start believing something different about ourselves.
- When we are present with ourselves and others, at home in the now, that is when we are winning.
As the ladies in Leap to Confidence find hope and confidence to realize new futures, we can adopt a new mindset, too. Let’s choose a different outlook, one that is centered in the now.
When? How about now.
