Cliché as it is, I know the phrase, believe you can, has power. After about 8 years of struggling with serious problems of an eating disorder and severe depression, I have realized that I CAN!! I now can do what I want to do and be what I want to be because I have learned to believe that I can.
To start in my recovery from the eating disorder and depression, I not only had to believe that I could do it, but I had to tell myself I was doing it… that very moment. I noticed that while I was in treatment I kept the great fear of, “what if I don’t get better,” in the front of my mind. Little did I know that even though I wanted to get better at the time, by my saying, “what if I don’t,” my subconscious brain still heard “don’t get better.” It was not until I started telling myself everyday, “I am getting better,” and “I am recovering,” that real progress was made... progress that lasted.
Now, I am in recovery from that horrible addiction and feeling better than I ever thought possible. How did I get here? I started telling myself that I would get here. Then I actually started believing it. Really, the turning point for me was when I turned that thought of “what if I don’t…” to “I know I can.” Honestly, I wasn’t completely sure that I was telling myself the truth when I started saying, “I believe I can.” But somewhere that doubt that I couldn’t change was being diminished by my little successes and accomplishments. I had to give myself credit for those things of course. Then, I felt that I was actually being real when I told myself I could become what I wanted.
Again, I saw the phrase work miracles as I furthered my college education. After I had struggled so long being sick and depressed, I “knew” I couldn’t finish school. I had always wanted to become a nurse. In high school I was a 4.0 student, then entered college and dropped out 4 times in a row. What had happened was that I had lost all faith in myself while I had become sick. I bashed on myself daily with thoughts of, “I’m not good enough,” and, “I am going to fail.” Of course, when I told myself those things it became a reality. Well, about a year ago, after being introduced to the power of my thoughts, I figured I would apply to nursing school to give my secondary education another try. Some people thought I was crazy to jump into such an intense program right away. However, I had seen that “believing I can” had worked in my recovery and I wanted to test it out again with other dreams and goals I had. Now, I am one month away from taking my NCLEX boards to become a nurse. I am one of the top students in my class as well and I love going to school every day. I can’t think of anything else that has changed other than my attitude. I now know, “believe I can,” and believe I will.
It’s crazy to me how this simple yet profound phrase has changed my life. I was the biggest skeptic I knew, but I am a believer. I want to give my advice to women to tell them to “believe you can.” There are so many open doors for us if we take the chance to walk through them. How many doors will you walk through if you believe it’s pointless? If you tell yourself that nothing good will come from walking through the door, then nothing will. If you tell yourself to take the chance and then wait for a wonderful opportunity to come along, I’m sure you will see that goodness pour into your life. It may seem unexpected, but remember to look back at how you believed that you could, and carry that belief into every area of you life!