A Creative way to master the art of never giving up

In this social media craze of Influencers, media entrepreneurs and people who seem to have it all, failing is far more crushing than it used to be. When I was in university, a student in the Law Faculty did a speech about Never Giving Up. It was more of a satire where he spoke on a primal level on how giving up is far easier than pushing past the boundaries. I nodded my head at every point he made, people stood on their feet and they clapped. But after the day was gone, we went on with our lives.

It was a great speech, the problem is we have become used to the norms. Every year Hollywood spits out at least three inspirational movies, but how many

people say that movie changed my life. Is it possible for a movie to resonate so well with someone it does change them? Well, it depends on who the person is. I have at least two movies that changed my life for the better and most people do. But movies, flowery statements, inspirational monologues, witty quotes, and motivational videos can only help us so far. It is up to us to be push forward past the societal norms, the crushing fears and the harm failing will do to our ego.

When I was in high school, when one failed, it wasn’t broadcast it to the whole world. There were a few sips of truth, pillows stained with tears and harsh truths that bounced off the walls. That was it. Now when you fail, people see it in full HD and that is the way it is.

Even if we take a step back, failing still hurts because the people closest to you will know the truth. And that stings. I had to repeat a grade and for years I walked around as if I was the biggest failure ever. I was so ashamed I left my previous school and when I met kids from school. They often asked me why I was repeating, I mumbled a few words and disappeared. Distancing myself from that person.

My biggest  forcible was I didn’t know how to cope with failing. Even though I was pushing forward, a part of me had given up. What hurt the most was this was the third time I had repeated a grade? This became a hard truth I had to bear. Only time could heal me yet it was taking a long time to do so.

Do something you’re terrified of

To get used to failing you have to fail over and over again. To get used to never giving up, you need to have failed in the first place. There are no loopholes when it comes to experience and what I have learned is you have to get used to failing. Sure, it will hurt and most people will never do it, but believe me, it’s possible. I used to have massive stage fright and every time I went on stage I would start shaking and breaking out in sweats.

When I was in university and that was when I realized I couldn’t allow it to affect my life. So, I went on stage so many times. I could do it because I had failed at it before. I was shocked when I won awards for public singing and singing. If you went back to my time in high school I sucked at both. I was a terrible singer and even worse at public speaking. There’s no such thing as impossible. When you put the effort into something you’ll be shocked by the results.

At first, you’ll suck. And you’ll fail, it can be twice or twenty times, but the next round you’ll succeed. Often, we stop ourselves from accomplishing what we want because we’re terrified to fail.

We are all afraid of something, but when you do something that you are afraid, this will give you the boost of confidence you need. It is scary out there, but when you step forward and go forward then you are beating the odds. The odds are against us especially when you are doing something that is out of your comfort zone and that is why you need to face your fear.

If you are terrified of being on camera, just do it. Face your fear because you if you never do that then fear will get a hold of you and it will be difficult to face 

them. When it comes to mastering the art of never giving up, one of the key insights is to face your fears and that will help you grow. 

Start Journaling 

Write down all your milestones and failures, have a timeline for every one of your failures. None of us like looking back in time and thinking about when we

failed. The only way you’ll grow is by doing this. It will suck in the beginning, but didn’t you feel the same way when you were riding your bike. And you fell and wanted to give up. It was then that your parent told you that you shouldn’t give up because then you’ll always will. So, you got back on and drove the bike. It was the same way when you were a baby, your mother or father calmed you down and you got back up.

The older we get, it’s a lot harder to do that, so you have to remind yourself. When you do that you’ll start noticing that there are times when you didn’t give up.

You then compare your milestones with your failures. The first time I did public speaking I was a fifteen-year-old kid who walked onto a stage, holding a paper. I kept looking at it. I was so bad. I suppose most are at that age, but before I went on stage they were kids who were so much better than me.

It was an embarrassing experience because I ended up dropping the paper and people couldn’t stop laughing. The thing is I don’t regret that experience because it pushed me to do better. And I did. We all have those experiences and they push us to do better. It might not be perfect, but that isn’t the point. The point is doing better than you did before.

If you want to use journaling to achieve more, Forbes did an awesome article on the topic. When it comes to never giving up, journaling will help fuel you to do greater things.

Your failures will be part of your success story

You’ll never know who’ll be. Everyone has had a story of failure before they became successful from street musicians to booed off the stage comedians. The greats have had to fail in order for them to succeed. Successful authors were once starving artists staying at home and eating ramen noodles. Motivational speakers used to suck at it and have stage fright.

Everyone has two stories, one of success and one of failure. No matter whether anyone knows who they are because we all have succeeded at in couple of things. Sure, it might not have been featured on Forbes or even Reader’s Digest, but that is our truth. The reality here is that when you play on a larger stage it is more frightening than being a success story in your household.

Take it from me we have a choice on who we become and what we do with our lives. I have known people who’d touch anything and it turned to gold until it didn’t and they gave up. I also knew people who no one noticed, they’d hide in the shadows, afraid of the world. Those people lift their heads high up where ever they go because they understand failure better than anyone.  You decide what you want with your life and where you’ll go.

Maybe, the problem is you allow the past to define you and that is why you give up. Read this blog post so you can master the art of never giving by learning how to not let your past define you.

Stop allowing your past failures from stopping you from achieving all that you want to do in life. Don’t wait on the side lines, just keep going and this will help to never give up. Whatever happens in the next couple of weeks, months or years, it all depends on what decision you make. Whether you allow fear to dedicate  what you do or where you go. 

Scream! Let it all out

We’re so used to keeping every buried deep within. When we’re frustrated, we bite our lips and push every back. If you want to learn how to never give up, the simple solution is to let everything out. Cry, scream and shout. Wave your arms around like a crazy person, talk to mirror you. Listen to songs or watch movies and let the tears flow. Just stop burying everything.

Failure sucks and there’s no running away from that, but you can embrace it. Accept you failed and don’t try to avoid it. Even if the failure was so loud everyone on Facebook knows. That’s true at all, but it can feel like that. No matter how crushing your failure was it has defined you for the better. The one way to get over it is to go through with. Even document your failure and this will give you peace of calm, 

Let go of the pain, the anger, the disappointment and the regret. Just let it go and allow yourself to face your fears and your insecurities. One of the best tricks to never giving up is to let it all out. Don’t keep the frustration in, just let it go and you will feel a whole lot better.

What reasons have you told yourself to stop going for your dreams?

                                                                                     Keep Pushing

                                                                     Vanessa