If you believe, you can achieve anything. Let those words sink in for a moment. How many times have you seen that phrase and read it quickly, never giving it a second thought? How many moments have you nodded your head, then moved on to the next thing, never once pausing to reconsider the weight of that affirmation in your own life?
The power of our minds is strong beyond measure.
What we choose to focus on, what we listen to, what we believe becomes our reality, our truth. What we embody, what we follow, what we step towards, that tells our story.
And so, what kind of life will we lead when we tell ourselves we can’t, or focus on our failures first? What kind of future are we building if our initial moments are hesitant? Are backwards out of fear? Or are rooted in place, too afraid to move?
What you believe, you can become. This speaks to everything from the mindset you carry with you every day, to the relationships you desire to have and surround yourself with, to the job or career path you want to conquer, to anything else in this life.
If you long to be a person of success and peace, first you must believe those things are attainable. If your hope is to change the world with your passions, before you begin, you must know that you are capable of doing exactly that. And then walk forward in that truth.
The person you are, the potential you have to grow into the woman or man you’re destined to be—he or she is already inherently within you.
There is strength already sewn into your bones. There is tenacity in your veins. There is a wildness that is sparked as you continue to trust the voice within your head, as you continue to believe in what could be—what is—instead of living in fear.
So often in life we wait: for the perfect moment, perfect job, perfect person. We wait with the hope that the pieces will simply fall together, that everything will make sense and we’ll magically become who we’re supposed to be with little effort. Truthfully, though, there is no reason to wait. And nothing worth becoming is found easily.
There is simply trusting, simply stepping, simply going.
For all that we long to become, we already are.
We are comprised of the moments we lost our way and then found our footing again. We are made of the broken promises and dead ends that forced us to create new paths. We are all the wishes that faded, all the dreams that made us feel lost—each of those moments have shaped us, changed us, and brought us <em>right here</em>. And instead of doubting who we have the potential to be, we must look back at all we’ve overcome, knowing there is nothing that we cannot face.
So if you do nothing else today, listen to the voice in your head. What is it saying? Is that voice encouraging you to leave a job, talk to a person, start a family, walk away from something painful? Can you listen to that voice, trust it, even when you’re not quite sure where it leads? Can you remind yourself that all you want to grow into is possible because of all you already are? You are enough, always will be.
Just trust your process, and know you will become what you believe.
Author: Marisa Donnelly is a Midwest-born, West Coast-based writer, poet, and essayist. She is the author of the poetry collection “Somewhere on a Highway,” and founder of Be A Light. Her writing appears both in print and online, at Huffington Post, Bustle, Thought Catalog, Briar Cliff Review, and Quote Catalog, among others. Her personal work can be found her website, or blog, Word & Sole. She currently resides in sunny San Diego, California.
