The Greatest Achievement Ever

What would you say was man’s greatest achievement?

Stonehenge? The painting of the Cistine Chapel? Walking on the moon? Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody?

It is easy to think of some amazing feats of science, art and music from across the centuries and think, Ah! But I could never do anything like that.

That may be true. You can’t be MichaelAngelo or Neil Armstrong or Freddy Mercury.

But you can be you.

You are amazing

Have you ever stopped for a moment and contemplated the fantastic achievement it is to be you? To have been born (the odds of the unique combination of sperm and egg, of DNA combinations, which create you are something like 400 trillion to one), to have grown into who you are today, to have survived the challenges life has thrown at you… You have to admit, it is pretty incredible.

The sad fact is, most people don’t look at themselves in the context of what they have achieved. They only consider what they have failed at. We have a tendency to think negatively and, the more we do it, the more we can spiral down into worry, feat and doubt.

We think about our goals and dreams but then tell ourselves I failed before, so who’s to say I won’t fail again? Or we don’t even contemplate setting goals because they are just silly. Everyone will laugh at me. Might as well not bother.

How do we get to be this way?

When you consider what a hard time we give to ourselves, you have to wonder how on earth it comes about. Babies don’t tell themselves they aren’t good enough or hesitate from doing something they want. Small children ask a lot of bold and searching questions in order to learn and find out about the world around them.

But, at some point in early childhood, we learn to be self conscious. We start to speak inwardly to ourselves and question who we are and what we need to do to be liked.

Then comes puberty, that agonising time where we try so hard to fit in with everyone around us while, at the same time, we struggle to be individual. Over time, we supress that wonderfully uninhibited sense of self and hide it behind layers of anxiety, doubt and fear.

But what if…?

Just suppose for a moment that there was another way. Take a moment to imagine what your life would be like if you didn’t hold yourself back but were, instead, just who you were supposed to be?

Can you see that version of you? Can you feel the way you would feel? And think the way you would think?

What would your life be like if you were able to be that person – even if you were only there for a few moments every day.

And isn’t that the greatest achievement of them all? To be who you are meant to be?

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