This is a phrase I often tell my peers on a day-to-day basis. In direct translation, this means “don’t need to be afraid” in the Chinese language.
Sometimes I wonder why it’s easy for me to tell others to not be afraid, yet I struggle believing that phrase in my own life. I often joke about my self-esteem and anxious personality because there are many days where I have felt personally dragged down by it.
When I was younger, I never offered advice which I myself have not been able to conquer or fully apply to my life. I figured it was a form of hypocrisy.
As I grew older, I started to see the reality and actual impact of having a strong support system of friends and family around you. I did not need to be perfect. I am not a hypocrite for wanting to comfort others with advice that I have not being able to fully fulfil 100% yet. I did not need to be able to fully apply what I say — but what matters was the heart behind what I said and speaking with the intention to empower another.
We are all works-in-progress. We may not always carry out each and every of our good intentions or be the ideal version of ourselves all the time.
We can tell others what we wish we ourselves would be able to believe and conquer one day. Just because we are not fully able to carry out what we believe in or strive for, it does not equate to failure. Just because we may take longer than others, it does not mean that we have failed.
Let us learn to distinguish our own voice among the buzzing white noise,
To listen to our heart over our ego.
Let us learn to empower each other,
Knowing that we are stronger — together.
Let us learn to not give in to our fears and our circumstances;
To listen to our hearts and our minds, but to know our own limits too.
Let us learn to give our very best shot,
To live our life to the very fullest.
Let us be unafraid to re-define and understand what self-love really means.
Self-love is not selfish, and we all need to know that. I too, am on my own journey to truly embrace the person God has created me to be.
