You can do anything when you believe.
I learned this when I went skiing for the first time with my boyfriend (at the time.) I was extremely nervous because I had been skiing before...and it was a really bad experience! I fell off the ski lift trying to get off and almost got run over by two people that were getting off after me. I also had my snow pants on wrong and there was a really sharp piece of metal that was supposed to go on the outside of my boots that I put inside of my boots and it rubbed against my leg the whole night. By the end of the night I could barely walk on that foot it hurt so badly. But my boyfriend loved skiing, so I decided that I would try again and go with him...
When we got to the ski area and were deciding which path to go on first, I insisted that we try the bunny hill. He told me that the bunny hill wasn't really that much easier than the regular trail. Then he told me to try skiing down a tiny hill right in front of us. He said that if I could do that I was ready for the mountain. I knew that because I couldn't ski down that little hill I wasn't ready for the big mountain. So I tried skiing down it to prove him wrong. When I successfully navigated the little hill, it surprised me. Call me naïve, but after that I actually believed him. I loved him so much and he was so good at everything that I thought that he must know what he was talking about. Since I had been wrong about the tiny hill I thought that he must be right. I believed him that I could do the big hill and we took the ski lift all the way to the top of the mountain. Whereas I couldn't ski at all on my first skiing trip, this time I felt brave, courageous, and empowered. I skied successfully all the way down the mountain! He had so much confidence in me that I had it in myself. I actually skied pretty well and I felt fantastic. Why was this time so different than my last experience? Because I believed that I could do it. He had confidence in me which created confidence in myself.
Since this experience I have learned that I need to be the one who instills my own confidence. I have realized that I can do anything I believe, and I shouldn't need to rely on someone else to tell me that. I need to empower myself.
