How to be Your Own Champion
Feb 15, 2018Today I want to talk about being your own champion.
As a mentor, confidence catalyst, and empowerment photographer, I spend my days uplifting, encouraging and supporting others. I constantly champion for them and push them to do, be, and feel better so they can move forward, create change, and serve others better in their businesses and lives.
The dark place with no champion.
However, there are days when even I feel like I have no champion supporting me. I fall into a low and dark place where I feel totally unsupported, and ultimately unsafe (in my situation, life, moment, relationships, circumstances, etc.). It’s as if there’s no one in my corner championing for me and I’m all alone fending for myself.
It’s a dark, sad, emotional, and upsetting place. I become irritated, upset, tired, defensive, and worst of all I feel like a victim. When you’re in a place like this how do you champion for yourself?
Why this happens?
Over time, I’ve come to realize that this unsupported and unsafe feeling usually comes at a time when I am physically and mentally exhausted. Those times when I have a lot on my plate, deadlines looming, people waiting on me to deliver something to them, even me waiting for me to deliver something for myself!
This is when I start to feel that sense of total overwhelm; a virtual spiraling out of control sensation followed by a feeling of dread and defeat. It’s as if I’m buzzing around busy as a bee yet getting nowhere, smashing into a wall of to do’s with no end in sight. It’s exhausting. It’s frustrating.
This is not who I am.
When this happens I have to realize that these emotions and feelings are not me. They are not who I am and they do not define me.
They are simply a product of the circumstances I alone have created.
Yes, I alone.
They are not the truth and never will be. They were created from decisions, thoughts, opinions, and actions that I (at the time) valued, partook in, and allowed to lead me to where ended up – feeling overwhelmed, unsupported and unsafe.
How to reset yourself and find your champion.
This is the moment in time when I have to pause, take a deep breath, and consciously stop and think. I must actively remind myself of all of the people in my life who do and have supported me over the years, days, even hours.
I can’t get stuck in a dark place simply because they haven’t reached out at the exact moment I was feeling this overwhelm. I have to keep all of the positive moments and gratitude I’ve received from others to remain collectively in my mind so that I can call upon them when needed. Kind of like a portable phone charger; you need a backup battery that you can carry with you to recharge your mind with support as needed.
If you can't call upon these moments of gratitude and support from others on demand then create a list, accessible on your phone or favorite notebook, and read this when you have moments of doubt, overwhelm and fear. This list is your self champion battery pack.
We are all striving for something better in this world. When we take actions to create change, even in the smallest way, we are noticed, even if we don’t think so. Allow this knowledge and your backed-up battery pack of positive moments and gratitude from the support of others to uplift you and help you become a better champion for yourself.