Be a Lion or a Pirate

Today I read a chapter for my class from Brenda Ueland's book called, "If You Want to Write". The chapter is called "Be careless, Be reckless, Be a Lion or a pirate when you write." I loved what she said. She stated that it does not matter what you write. She said that nothing you write can be boring because its you writing. She said that creativity is often taken out of writing when you are a child/teenager, early college student. You are told what to write and how to write it. I agree. I'd like to take what she said a step further. I believe that growing up I was timid in my goal setting except for the important ones, like get married in the temple, stay active in the church, read my scriptures daily. When it came to my other goals, I was afraid to complete them. I was afraid that someone did not think I would be good enough. Maybe its because people told me that. When one person told me I was not good enough then I believed that I was not good enough for anything else. I believe that is what my sister calls Availability Heurisitics (she is really into psychology). Anyhow, that is what I believed. Well, not true. Everyone is good at something. It may take awhile to figure it out, but everyone is good at something. I should not believe what others have told me in the past. I should believe in myself. I think that when we believe in ourselves, and not let others tell us what we are, we are more likely to accomplish great things. When I make goals that I really want to accomplish, I need to be a Lion or a Pirate in order to acccomplish them.

I don't mean be a lion or a pirate as in be evil or do whatever it takes to win... I mean be a lion or a pirate in that you should be fearless when you do the things you love or want to do. Don't care about any other's opinion. If you believe it to be right then do it. Be fearless. I am going to strive to be a lion, or a pirate, when I start doubting my abilities today... we shall see how it works!