Be your own cheer leader!

In 2018, Snoop Dogg got his star on the Hollywood walk of fame and in real Snoop Dogg style, his acceptance speech created a bit of a buzz. It’s my birthday month and if you know me, you know that I love birthdays and as I have grown, much to my family’s annoyance, this love for birthdays has not gone away and I enjoy very much all the attention I get on the day. As I thought of turning a new age and what was ahead, I remembered Snoop Dogg’s acceptance speech and it got me thinking. Over the years, I have always spent time to thank those that had been there for me and cheered on others but never taken the time to applaud myself. Snoop’s speech did exactly that – because at the end of the day, everybody needs to trust themselves a bit more and give themselves credit where due.

“I want to thank me for believing in me, I want to thank me for doing all this hard work, I want to thank me for having no days off, I want to thank me for never quitting, I want to thank me for always being a giver and trying to give more than I receive, I want to thank me for trying to do more right than wrong, I want to thank me for just being me at all times. Snoop Dogg, you a bad motherf*****.”

Snoop Dogg

So for my birthday, I decided to thank me – because in good and bad times, no matter how difficult times had been, I have always been true to myself and it was time to give myself a mention. We are sometimes so hard on ourselves that we forget to acknowledge the times we had fought through the many difficult battles we face in life. We spend so much time beating ourselves for the mistakes and the wrongs we make in life – but it is about time we acknowledge the times we pushed through when all the odds were stacked against us. The times when we had no one in our corner and we stood alone to achieve that goal that seemed impossible from the beginning. That time when betrayal stung so bad that all we could think was to retaliate but chose to remain gracious and continue in the face of toxic shame. The list goes on and on and I could mention many instances when we could have quit but we continued. A good friend and I have a saying whenever life gets a bit much – ‘cry when it all falls apart, crumble in a heap and taste your tears – but you make sure you wipe your tears away and rise from the ruins of your failures – by all means give yourself permission to try again’. Many of us have lived this saying – we have cried one day, wiped our tears the next day and found strength within ourselves to continue in the same placed we cried and we need to be proud of ourselves for our resilience.

I have noticed that as humans we focus much on the negatives in life instead of looking at the vivid colourful possibilities right before  us. I have wondered why we get so focused on the negatives – why we could receive a thousand compliments but have our day ruined by one negative comment. Looking at my own life, I have noticed that it is the negatives that I sometimes focus on more than the positives – so this has been an area I am constantly undoing and reprogramming my mind on. I have met several people who will instantly downplay a compliment or talk negative about themselves as soon as they receive a compliment. We are all worth a mention and we, more than others, need to celebrate ourselves as often as we can to remind ourselves of our strengths and achievements against the many obstacles we face.

So, take some time to remember the times you had gotten out of bed when you didn’t think you could, the times you went to that job you hated and gave your all, the times you gave when you did not have much, the times you showed grace in the face of disrespect and all the times you were your true authentic self. Cheer for yourself and give yourself a pat on the back for the times you kept going even when you felt like quitting. Don’t wait for others to clap for you and don’t downplay your achievements to make others comfortable around you – you deserve a mention! 

Thank you so much for always getting in touch and sharing your stories – please continue to do so and let’s effect change by sharing our experiences.