Confidence is the wall of strength you build within yourself from the weighty bricks of your burdens, the buckets laden with your fears & the mortar of fortitude in which you push yourself beyond the limits & limitations of your life to date! It is only when you still persist even though you may have your doubts, taking the chance even though you haven’t taken that chance before, that you will in fact develop this skill!
Confidence is the armor you will develop through believing in yourself enough to wage your battles, take on your daily challenges & hone your life skills . . confidence is born only in self-love & built-in self-assurance!
Confidence fights past your fear, overwhelms your doubts & stands at the edge of each precipice imagined without succumbing to worry! You cannot build the confidence you need by living in the constant safety of what you already know you have or can conquer!
Confidence comes only when you dare go beyond the safety of your comfort zones!
Making lemonade from our lemons doesn’t mean we’re settling for less, it means we are making the best of whatever comes our way & that is how we make the best of our lives! We can choose to exist & to react . . ways to surely suck the living out of your life! In existing, you relinquish your desire to hope for yet-fulfilled & yet-achieved dreams. You simply stop living in a state of faith & hope t…o sustain that faith, & so your life becomes based in fear, worry, regrets, sorrows, “what ifs” & “why nots”. But when you take back the helm of your central internal emotional command, realizing that although you don’t control everything, you do control your responses, you will start to feel empowered & alive once again! 
As this year draws to a close, many find reason to happily close the doors upon this one, as it was simply not the type of year they had envisioned. Some things changed, things happened, pain ensued & their personal history became altered. But the truth of life is in the fact that it is ever-changing, ever-testing, ever-filled with those elements which try us & make us stalwart in who we are. We would never be much of anything were it not for the wisdom learned through our tests, the strength built through each battle & the compassion learned by being hurt. We aren’t here to live half-lives of just the pleasant & the rewarding, for they aren’t the moments which build much of any character in us. We can pray, hope & wish for only those types of moments, but reality will rear a head more authentic, & we will have to develop something within us that permits us to be more, to do better & to live happily regardless. My hope for each of us as we move on in life is to see the pathway illuminated less precisely but with more clarity by recognizing our own inability to control everything. We must see our very need to cede power but retain strength in all life events which are concurrently happening around us as well, our inherent desire to live faithfully & with a sense of contentment regardless the circumstances. It is possible to make 2013 a better year now sight unseen, just by changing your mindset & securing that outcome. It is truly up to you! Life won’t probably be all that less challenging, the world will be just as chaotic, but you will be standing firmly & resolutely on solid ground regardless. And that is the great truth of life . . the firmament you seek is within you!
Many will want to hurry into a new year, for they see it as a door closing on a bad time, leaving only possibility for a better time in the future. They are right! But they’re only right because they’ve made up their minds to see it that way. 2013 has no promises & no guarantees attached, it comes not with a disclaimer or a series of known days. It just opens in its newness, just like every other …year we’ve had. We can wonder what we’ll find, but we mustn’t presume to know. We might have planned some days ahead, but even those are really just wishes until they materialize & become a part of our history. We are blessed with so many gifts each day, we often times take our gifts for granted for the sheer numbers of them have just numbed us to seeing them day in & day out. We have our loved ones with us, our friends beside us, our co-workers who enable us to do our jobs, our furry friends, our activities that brighten each day, nature all around us blooming – changing & creating a canvas of beauty in the background into which we paint ourselves in the foreground. God has blessed us abundantly, & we owe it to Him, to ourselves & to others to recognize our gifts just for what they are. Be thankful you are approaching this new year of possibility & rest in the assurance that no matter what it brings, you can find your peace, contentment & joy in life for sure!
cherylriesauthor 