Gratitude is one of the strongest and most transformative states of being. It shifts your perspective from lack to abundance and allows you to focus on the good in your life, which in turn pulls more goodness into your reality.
Try new things, step out of your comfort zone, take risks, do things in ways you've never done them before, ask for help, surround yourself with self-actualized people, become obsessed with the fact that you have one go-round on this planet as the you that is you, and realize how precious and important it is not to squander that.
We humans can get used to anything. It really is remarkable. The problem is that we often use this glorious ability of ours to stay stuck in mediocrity. Oh, the years we waste adapting to lousy marriages, soul-sucking jobs, being friends with people who are rude to waitresses.
As far as self-confidence goes, so much of social media is about approval, getting likes, comparing our lives to others' - meanwhile, confidence is an inside job: it's about how you feel about yourself regardless of what anyone else does or thinks. It's a knowing that you're human, you're flawed, and you're awesome in your own way.
Perfectionism and procrastination have such a fine line. You say, 'Well, I want it to be good. I want it to be perfect.' But what you're really doing is not doing your work. You're putting off showing up and being visible because then you're going to be judged, and it might suck.
Maybe, if you put your disbelief aside, roll up your sleeves, take some risks, and totally go for it, you'll wake up one day and realise you're living the kind of life you used to be jealous of.
Overwhelm is, most often, a mindset. If you think about all the things you have to do, you'll be face down on the floor. It really helps to break it down into smaller pieces.
Basically, I chose not to identify with being broke any longer. I realized I deserved a beautiful life, and abundance was something that I needed to welcome into my life.
You get to choose how you perceive your reality. So why, when it comes to perceiving yourself, would you choose to see anything other than a super-huge rock star of a creature?
When we push against who we naturally are, we feel stress, things don't progress easily, we beat ourselves up for getting crappy results, and everything is an effort.
This is part of what makes me, ahem, an excellent houseguest: I'm game. I'm flexible. I'll make you feel okay about eating an entire chocolate cake in one sitting because I'm right there by your side with my own fork.
Our 'realities' are make-believe - whatever we make ourselves believe, we experience.
Will you lose everything you've got if you open your own restaurant? Who knows. Will unleashing your secret desire to teach tap dancing ruin your reputation as a professional wrestler? Who knows. And who cares? Unless your unknown puts you at risk of death, prison, or bodily harm, you have nothing to lose except living a dull, uninspired life.
One of the biggest obstacles to making lots of money is not a lack of good ideas or opportunities or time, or that we're too slovenly or stupid: it's that we refuse to give ourselves permission to become rich.
Acknowledging that there's something you desire, not going after it, and deciding that, 'You know what, it's fine; I'll just focus on what I do have, make myself a ham sandwich, and call it a day,' isn't happiness. It's denial.