Are You Sure?

 

Are you sure? 

This is a saying that goes through my head often. I was trying to remember when I first started asking myself this. I feel like it was when I left the village for the city, in my college days. 

It was the first time I was on my own to make all my own decisions.At the time it didn’t hold me back, but was a speed bump. It wasn’t a bad thing to do. I wasn’t exactly street smart after growing up in Prague, Nebraska, population 400 (at the time). 

“Are you sure” was definitely a safety measure, but it also was a ball-and-chain. It can hold you back. When there is a lack of confidence in yourself, that “are you sure” can leave you spinning your wheels going nowhere.

Confidence has amazing power when you can find it, but for many it's razor thin and can be broken. My confidence when I walked-on at Nebraska to play football was broken by my thoughts of “are you sure you can compete with these big dudes?” My answer deep in my mind was no you can’t. 

The problem was God blessed me with all the skills I needed. I just doubted myself. Instead of having the confidence that I had in my God-given abilities, I let my mental weakness rule. I’m confident I could have played and made an impact, I just wasn’t mentally ready. 

In everything we do in the world, confidence can be a make or break. I ask myself all the time “Are you sure…” and the older I get the more I find that I keep saying I can. 

The reason these days I answer “I can” is because I don’t let how others see me damage my confidence. I don’t let my reputation with others lower my confidence. I don’t allow myself to worry as much about what others think of me. 

Too many talented people depend their confidence on the praise or thoughts of others, yet we are all equal. We all have greatness in us. We all have more strength than we know. The most famous people were all just like you, but had the confidence in themselves to succeed despite what others said/thought. We just need to not get distracted by “Are you sure”. 

It’s taken me a long time to figure this out. I can truly say that my faith and studying Jesus’ life has played a big part of my education in this area. My confidence is stronger than ever and it grows. I will continue to work on it though. I know I’m going to ask myself “are you sure” over and over again, but now the answer is coming from my point of view, not what you or anyone else thinks. 

Find your confidence in yourself and see what you can be.