Encouragement breeds success

You moron, you idiot, are you stupid or what, I shouldn’t bother if I were you, you’ll be rubbish at that, why can’t you be more like him/her?

Little things that slip out of mouths in the heat of the moment, be it in the playground, the pub or the safety of your own home. Throwaway phrases we think nothing more of, but that can instil themselves in others for years after the conversation is forgotten.

Comments that really get under the skin and niggle away as you try to achieve something that’ll make you feel better. While the chattering monkey of self doubt and his clanging cymbals of failure sit there in your ear heralding in yet another opportunity for you to humiliate yourself in front of a baying crowd.

So you give up on what you’re trying to achieve, I mean, why bother? If no-one else believes in your capabilities then why should you?

You spend your life doing the lowliest of jobs because you don’t think you can achieve any better.  Letting people walk all over you and trample any self worth you had left under their self absorbed feet. Settling for second best, you sink into the background to become anonymous because whose going to take any notice of an invisible person like you anyway.

But then one day, just when you think you’ve camouflaged yourself so well that you’ll never be seen again, somebody recognises that little spark of passion that still lays dormant in your heart. They fan the fire, nurture it and encourage it to burn until it’s a roaring inferno of desire and pretty soon you’re a burning beacon dragging yourself out of anonymity and into the light.

Take it from one who knows, a little compliment can ignite the biggest flame and stoke the dying embers of your self confidence back into life once more.

Encouragement breeds success and starts a chain reaction so tend your fires carefully and watch them grow.

GIRL FROM THE NECK DOWN COLUMN - MEDWAY MESSENGER