February 26, 2010
Self-Confidence Advice
One day when I was around my early to mid twenties, I went to the hairdressers for my monthly trim. This woman enquired about whether I had heard about the tragic car crash that had recently occured. I hadn’t and she then went on to describe what had happened.
Three young men who were all aged twenty-two, were on the way for an evening in the local public house. One of the men was speeding and was unable to keep control of the car. His vehicle had then careered straight into a large tree, all three of the people in the car had died at the scene.
She continued that one of the men which had died, had worked in the butchers, which was only two doors away from her shop. She described the man in question, which turned out to be a person that I knew, just to say hello to. I actually saw him on most mornings and we often smiled at each other, and would say something like, hi there.
Later on when I was at home, I started to think even more about this particular person. Even though he was friendly, he always looked quite stressed and did not seem that happy. If he had known what was about to happen to him, I am sure he would have made the most of the time he had left.
It should not have taken this kind of tragedy to bring me to my senses, but it did. I suddenly realised that we are all terminally ill as we all will die at some point in the future. I am sorry if that is a bit morbid, but it is true. Not all of us will live until retirement age and our lives could end tomorrow.
I have always been a bit of a worrier; mainly about my speech I suppose as I had a stuttering speech impediment. I did eventually manage to gain fluency via an intensive one-to-one stuttering therapy course but even then I started to worry about business; I work for a composite door company and for a business cost reduction specialist on a part time basis.
I now have learnt to stop stressing so much - life, I have now learnt, is just too short.
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February 24, 2010
The Benefits Of Positive Thoughts
We all face problems or hurdles as we travel along the road of life, this article gives my viewpoint on how to deal with these issues. I have personally taken inspiration from my favourite football team, Birmingham City. They have a famous song which their supporters regularly sing, it is called, keep right on to the end of the road.
I have often been amazed by the passion and the buzz that I get when going to watch them, and also the passion of the rest of the crowd. On particular afternoon these fans were to teach me a very valuable lesson in life. The season in question had been a very poor one for Birmingham and it resulted in the team being relegated to the then second division (the leagues have been reformed since then and this division is now known as the first division). This was the lowest point the club had ever reached.
With two games remaining the club was already doomed and the next match was the final home game of the season. I am quite confident that the supporters of the majority of teams would start to criticise the club and make the whole afternoon quite difficult. Not so at Birmingham, the fans were as passionate as ever and continued to support and cheer them on. At one point a leaflet was sent round the Birmingham supporters which had been produced by the supporters club members. It stated on this leaflet that despite the club reaching its lowest point, that they wanted as many fans as possible to travel to the last match of the season, which would be in London. This was to show the team that we still supported them and that we would be back the next season. I went to that match as did around six thousand other Birmingham fans. One song was sang throughout the whole match, keep right on to the end of the road. It was an amazing experience for me and one that I will never forget. As many pundits predicted Birmingham ended up losing the match but the supporters did not really care.
Later I thought about what had happened. I was now very much aware that this episode can act as a form of inspiration when I start to feel a bit down in the dumps. I was basically a person who would always think negatively about things and I now realised that had to start thinking much more positively. This is not easy however but is something that I try hard to do. I had a negative attitude in part due to the fact that I had a speech impediment. With this new found attitude I eventually found a way of stopping stuttering and I have now been fluent for the last fourteen years.
I have also gained success in my business life selling voucher codes for a local composite door company. It is amazing what a good approach can have on the sales of these affordable front doors. I also work with a group of experts who advise on jobs in foster care.
My belief is that positive people have positive and happy lives. This is what I want and the above example has helped me to get back onto my feet many times.
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January 27, 2010
How To Eliminate Stress
Up until a few years ago many of my friends and family used to call me “a stress head”. Why you may well be thinking? I basically worried and stressed about most aspects of life.
So what was the cause of all of this stress? Most of the problems were probably due to the fact that I had a stammer/stutter. This speech impediment had developed when I was at the age of four. As you may well imagine it is something that destroyed my overall confidence levels. Therapy for stammering, at the time, was less than impressive which did not exactly help the situation.
Having a lack of confidence affected nearly all areas of my life; not just my speech. I would worry about what other people thought of me, I would stress about my height and my weight. I had a need or want, for some unknown reason, for people to like me. Looking back it all just sounds so crazy but it was like I was being controlled by some demonic force. It even affected my career which is within the cheap mobile calls and cheap holidays industries.
The turning point came as I entered into my twenties; it was time for a change and a big one at that. I could no longer live in this way – there surely had to be more to life than this.
There was only one person who was going to get me out of the mess that I was in and that person was me.
I started to work very hard at learning how to increase self-esteem for example. I watched the way in which great fluent talkers spoke and tried to compare it with the way that I spoke. I hoped this would result in me finding the solution to my stuttering problem.
Progress was far from quick however after around a year of battling against my demons I did manage to overcome the stutter and I did manage to discover ways to stop me stressing – it is all about attitude and the way we approach life – think positive and believe in yourself!
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