Being Your Own Cheerleader

I don’t know if you’ve had this thought, but I definitely have had it a lot. “I just wish someone would believe in me.” I’ve always looked to authority to believe in me, but I’ve often been disappointed. Now I’m learning how to be my own cheerleader and believe in myself.

I started piano lessons… again… last September. The other day I was practicing one of my songs that I had been playing for a couple of weeks. At my last lesson, I almost wanted to just tell my piano teacher I was done with it because frankly, I was tired of playing it and feeling like I just wasn’t getting it. I decided to trust my teacher, though, and took it on another week. I am glad I did, because I played it really well. I played it the way I wanted to. I may not be able to play it like that for my lesson, but I was so proud of myself that I kept with it. When I finished, I blurted out, “Good job, Betsy! You played that so well!” My son laughed and asked, “Why did you say that, Mom?” I told him that I was really proud of myself and no one else was saying it, so I decided to tell myself. He said, “We’ll tell you. Good job, Mom!” I hope he’ll feel free to tell himself a good job when he’s proud of something he’s done, too. It felt good to be free to tell myself I did a good job sticking with something when I sincerely felt I had.

What are you wishing someone would say to you?