How to Increase Self Confidence and Beat Depression: Ask Some Simple Questions
When you are depressed it is difficult to have confidence in yourself, and the less confident you are, the more you can become depressed. However, asking yourself a few simple questions can boost your self-confidence and help you beat depression by changing your point of view.
“Why not me? Why not us?”
American soccer fans may have heard these questions a lot lately. These are the questions quarterback Russell Wilson asked himself at the beginning of last season, when he looked at a seemingly impossible goal called The Superbowl.
To hear sportscasters say it, Wilson came to the Seattle Seahawks after being picked low enough in draft picks. As a rookie, there were no guarantees that he would even get the quarterback job. He was considered too small and not powerful enough to lead a winning team.
“I’ve been told a lot of times that if I was just two inches taller, I’d be a great prospect,” Wilson told writer Peter King in July 2012.
Now those two inches don’t mean a thing. Wilson has led the Seahawks to their first Superbowl victory, against one of the best quarterbacks and teams to ever play the game. All because he worked hard and constantly asked himself “why not me, why not us?”
Ask “Say who?”
When you are depressed, you can feel like the sun will never rise again. And when you ask yourself “why not”, you mumble something like “because I’m useless” or “because I can’t.” Regardless of the dejected answers you say to yourself, you can use them to start a new round of questions. Questions that can really make you think.
“Because I’m _____”, whatever. Fill in the blank with whatever your depression says is wrong with you. Then ask, “Say who?” Did your parents tell you that you would never be pretty? Did you teachers say you were too lazy or just not smart enough to be successful? Missed for a promotion? Did you fail at the gym? Have you accumulated all the criticism you have received and formed your own image from what other people said?
If you think “because I never could _____”, well why not? Have you ever tried? If you tried and think you failed, what makes you feel like you could never try again?
To beat your depression and get your confidence moving upward, you can’t just ignore these questions with frivolous answers. You need to dig deep and try to find what created your poor self-image, then make an honest assessment of its truth.
Ask “What do I really want today and what will I want tomorrow?”
If you are in the midst of depression, huddled in a corner somewhere, what you want today may just be to be left alone so you can sulk in peace. If so, admit it. But what about tomorrow? How long do you really want to stay like this? If you think about it, isn’t there something you prefer to do that is a lot more fun?
Believe it or not, after a while, depression can get boring. So if you could do whatever you wanted tomorrow, what would it be?
Questions alone won’t cure depression, but they can get you out of bed. And, if you can get up, you can do anything. If you can take a step, you have all the strength you need. Just that first step won’t beat your depression, but it’s the step that gets you going and gives you the confidence to move on.
Quote source: http://mmqb.si.com/2014/02/04/russell-wilson-seattle-seahawks-super-bowl-xlviii/?xid=si_topstories
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