Have you ever given up on yourself? –@bluenextbear
Yes, this is a perpetual problem I have, and maybe many people have: I give up on myself every day. I wake up, and I have to make sure my first thoughts are not negative thoughts. I get angry. And anger is just a small shade on the spectrum of emotions away from fear. So I usually get scared next http://bit.ly/o9MBAx. Then I have to go to the bathroom. Fast.
But when I’m done with that, the key is how to get back on track. I try to practice an ongoing meditation, labeling thoughts as I catch them: “useful” or “not useful.” Any anger or fear thoughts or thoughts of, “I can’t do this” go in the “not useful” bucket. Then I begin my normal practices of the day. Exercising the idea muscle, writing, exercising. And so on.
Every day is a battle. Even if you have confidence one day, there are so many forces in the world (media, news, pop culture, family, enemies, bosses, colleagues, etc. etc. etc.) that are trying to bring you down that you need in your tool chest a daily method of performing surgery on yourself so that if you do give up, even if it’s just for a moment, you have a way of coming back from the abyss.
In a black hole there’s something called the event horizon. Once you enter that perimeter there is no escape and you are sucked into the black hole. There is no way possible for anything to comeback once it’s in that zone. The same thing applies when giving up on yourself. You have to pull yourself back before you are sucked into that zone. Don’t entertain it, don’t dance with it, and don’t feed that feeling. You must say “not useful” and move on. Continue with the incremental implementation of your plan, discussed above.