Bouncing back: Self-belief is the key to overcome adversity

Does our belief in ourselves, and our confidence help us come out of challenges or do they make us more vulnerable and cause us to succumb to the challenges?

Here is a small story on how Self- Belief can help an individual to overcome a challenge: -

When the new disciple came to the Master, he had a problem. He does not get complete any important task in the first attempt.

Although Master did not take it seriously, the disciple was very uncomfortable. Every time he starts his work with anxiety as to how to get out of that problem. Anxiety takes hold. If it gets irritated, it will disperse itself. He never once tasted success on the first attempt.

The Master, who had been looking after him for a few days, called him one fine day and spoke to him.

The parrots confined in the parrot astrologer's cage come out to take the slip, they do not try to spread their wings and fly. They come out walking like humans and walk back into the cage. Do you know why this is? After thinking for a while, the disciple said, "I don't know, Master."

Master detailed the logic behind it ?Once a free-flying parrot is caught, its wings are first clipped. A parrot that has lost its wings will try to fly without realizing it. But that is not possible. A parrot does not know that it has no feathers. Will try to fly again and again, losing every time.

The Parrot does not know its clipped wings will regrow over time. It believes that it no longer has the power to fly because it fails every time it tries to fly and the habit of flying with spread wings over the period is moved from its DNA.

By listening to the story, the disciple -realized the similarity between the Parrot and himself. It doesn't matter how many times we try. It doesn't matter how many times we fail. The key is to believe that after every failure you will succeed next time and continue to persevere with the same belief. If we carry the worry that we will lose our minds, it will cause anxiety. Chances are high that the next attempt also will fail.

Master said that even if there is a chance to meet success, due to lack of faith we will fail without giving full effort. After this gyan and self-realization, the disciple lost the habit of considering failures. Surprisingly, success came to him from the first attempts.

How Self-Belief transformed my life! – “Paralytic” to “Able”

In the field of positive psychology, which focuses on the positive aspects of human behavior’s and characteristics, decades of research have shown that with confidence in oneself and the cognitive resources at disposal, one can bounce back and not ponder on feelings of helplessness in difficult situations.

Here is my self-transformation story from “Paralytic” to “Able”

In 2016 had a spinal injury during business travel to the countryside of Kenya. Delay in medical care has caused Paraplegia (paralysis below the waist usually affects both legs, bladder, and bowel control). Months of hospitalization in Nairobi and Dubai have not resulted in any progress and leading specialist in the domain of Neurology who have diagnosed lost hope in all the possibilities of being “Able”.

Being terminated from employment on my medical condition, I was clueless and lot many doubts about sustaining our life in Dubai, the continuity of kids’ education, and lessening financial savings have completely choked and restricted my thoughts of being “Positive”.

Mounted fears and doubts of survival not only hampered my mental/emotional balance but also my health badly. I have failed in all my attempts to walk. Like the Parrot in the above story, I have confined myself to have my rest life as a “Vegetative” with no mobility.

?In a situation of nothing to lose further while resting on the bed a deep thought answered all the questions and it is “only me and my ableness” can change the situation of the adversity.

An unknown source of inner spark has ignited a fire in me to resile back from the situation and yes the “Positive Psychology” has worked. ?Just being confident that “I will be able”, every single attempt to walk has resulted in enormous progress.

-within a month I took employment in Chennai to be independent.

- Owned a car and drove with confidence again to be independent.

-Played Badminton for hours (obviously, colleagues have encouraged me) to improve my mobility.

-Completed 5 km of Walkathon in one hour when a colleague challenged my ability to walk and the list goes.

-Developed a passion to associate with Start up's and Transforming companies to enjoy the adversities.

To conclude, while our fears and doubts about situations are essential for survival, every time we face our fears or do something we were afraid to do, we grow as individuals. We prove to ourselves that we have the capability to face adversity and come out resilient. The more adversities we face, the more skills we acquire, which builds our confidence and resources to effectively come out of similar situations. This confidence gives us a sense of control over the situation.

Do you have a story of overcoming adversity? please share