Having Faith in Our Own Lives

An actress is waiting in the wings prior to her performance.  She has "butterflies."   She always has "butterflies."   Even though she has done this role exactly 486 times.  And, when her right foot steps forward onto that stage, she moves with the utmost confidence that, supported by her successful history, she will attain excellence.

A surgeon begins the fifth procedure of the day.  While all of the preliminary tests have been done, the surgeon is well aware that sometimes surprises await in the midst of a procedure.   Is the surgeon completely at ease with this?  No.  The surgeon knows, however, that based on education and experience, that he/she have a proven skill set that will serve both the professional staff and the patient well.

And we come to work each morning.   We may know what faces us, we may not.   We may be anxious in either case.  Yet, we should approach each and every day with the faith that "We've done this before."   "We've not only survived, but we have thrived."   "We have learned lessons that will enable us to course correct to a successful conclusion." 

From my personal experience, I know there are traces of anxiety with each new experience (and each day brings a new experience).   And that's fine.   But, if we let these traces grow to doubts about our own skill sets and talents and knowledge, then we have truly over-indexed and are doing ourselves a disfavor.  Or, if we let these traces of uncertainty bring to light our resources - then we are in the game!

Because, seriously, we've done this before.   We're here!   We know more and we've grown exponentially.  (If we haven't, what's the point?)  We may never be totally prepared - but we have immeasurable resources to get through whatever we face.

We should justifiably have faith in what we have learned.   We should trust the knowledge we've gained.   We should be thankful for what we've accomplished and what we have gotten through.

We should have faith in our own lives.

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My book "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders"  is available on Amazon Kindle.