When you’re depressed, it’s hard to be confident, and the less confident you are, the more depressed you can become. However, asking yourself a few simple questions can boost your self-confidence and help you beat depression by changing your point of view.
“Why not me? Why not us?”
American soccer fans may have been hearing these questions a lot lately. They’re the questions quarterback Russell Wilson asked himself at the start of last season, as he stared toward a seemingly impossible goal called The Superbowl.
To listen to the sportscasters, Wilson came to the Seattle Seahawks after being taken fairly low in the draft picks. As a rookie, there were no guarantees that he would land the quarterback job. He was considered too small and not powerful enough to lead a winning team.
“I’ve been told a bunch of times that if he was just two inches taller, he’d be a great prospect,” Wilson told writer Peter King in July 2012.
Now those two inches don’t mean a thing. Wilson has led the Seahawks to their first Superbowl victory, against one of the best quarterbacks and teams to ever play the game. All because he worked hard and wondered “why not me, why not us?”
Ask “Who says?”
When you’re down, it can feel like the sun will never rise again. And when you ask yourself “why not”, you mumble something like “because I’m useless” or “because I can’t”. Whatever dejected answers you tell yourself, you can use them to start a new round of questions. Questions that might really make you think.
“Because I’m _____”, whatever. Fill in the blank with what your depression says is wrong with you. Then ask, “who says?” Did your parents tell you that you would never be pretty? Did your teachers say you were too lazy or just not smart enough to succeed? Have you been passed over for a promotion? Did you fail gymnastics? Have you stored everything that you have received and have you formed your own image from what other people said?
If you’re thinking “because I could never _____”, well, why not? Have you ever tried? If you tried and you think you failed, what makes you feel like you could never try again?
To beat your depression and boost your confidence, you can’t just dismiss these questions with cursed repartee. You need to look deep and try to find what created your poor self-image, then make an honest assessment about its truth.
Ask “What do I really want today and what will I want tomorrow?”
If you’re in the throat of depression, huddled in a corner somewhere, what you want today may simply be to be left alone so you can sulk in peace. If so, then admit it. But what about tomorrow? How long do you really want to stay like this? If you think about it a bit, isn’t there something you’d rather do that would be a lot more fun?
Believe it or not, after a while depression can get a little boring. So if you could do whatever you want tomorrow, what would it be?
Questions alone won’t cure depression, but they can get you out of bed. And, if you can get up, you can do anything. If you can take a step, you have all the strength you need. That first step alone won’t beat your depression, but it’s the one step that gets you going and gives you the confidence to keep going.
Quote-source: http://mmqb.si.com/2014/02/04/russell-wilson-seattle-seahawks-super-bowl-xlviii/?xid=si_topstories
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