Treasure Yourself (6 page)

red for passion…

One of the most vital things you can do to increase your confidence and welcome challenge is to find your

passion. With passion comes belief and determination and a willingness to trust in your instincts. I

believe that deep down we all know what we are passionate about. Sometimes we hide it behind the

needs of others and we deny what we truly feel inside.

I know many people who seemed to know what they wanted to do from an early age, and now love the

career they chose. Other people are on a search and may find themselves along many career paths before

they stick to one that makes them happy. If you haven’t found your passion yet try not to get disheartened.

Sometimes if you are going down a twisted path with lots of curves and bends it still leads you to the

exact place you need to be, it just takes a little longer. If you go down one career path and then change to

another, all that knowledge can add depth to what you are doing now, making your set of skills more

unique. There is no such thing as knowledge wasted. I always believe that everything happens at the

perfect time.

Define yourself… I think we need to come up with our own definition of success and not let others define

it for us. We can also fall into the trap of letting others set our goals for us. Some people define success as

accumulating a vast amount of wealth or achieving wide recognition, but it’s important to ask yourself,

will these things make you truly happy? I believe success is when you feel content with who you are and

what you offer to the world. I like this quote by John R. Wooden:

‘Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best

to become the best you are capable of becoming.’

If you want to be a doctor or a writer, the choice should be yours. Remember, you’re the one who has

to live your life – nobody else.

I am passionate about health and wellness. I feel strongly about understanding the true nature of our

bodies and the essence of what life is about. To me there is nothing more exciting than studying ways in

which we can make the most of who we are and the body we have been given.

Passion takes you places… Passion is something that can motivate you into action. Procrastination is

something that prevents you from living your passion and ultimately deprives you of achieving your

dreams. Be careful not to get stuck in the trap of procrastination! Procrastination is where you intend to do

something but somehow never get around to doing it. We all know that feeling! You keep putting

something off or you keep making up excuses not to do it.

By procrastinating you are reaffirming the belief that you can’t achieve your goals. The first thing you

should do so you can understand the real problem behind your procrastination is to identify those self-

limiting beliefs that are holding you back. It could be that you don’t think you have the skills to complete a

project or that you’re scared of fail–ure. The only way to eliminate these limiting thoughts is through

action, even if it may seem daunting at first. No successful man or woman you admire got to where they

are by doing nothing. Say to yourself, ‘There is nothing stopping me from achieving my dreams!’ Once

you embrace your innermost passion, it will stay with you for life.

I like to surround myself with people who love life as much as I do. For me, the most interesting people

are driven by their passion. If you are trying to find out what you are passionate about, look closely at the

life you already lead. You might think back to what you dreamed about doing when you were a child or

what you enjoy doing most today … it could be reading or writing, horse riding, cooking, helping people

in all sorts of ways, looking at the way a car works – it could be anything! Your past might not point to the

end of your quest but it might take you to the next step.

Take some time to work out what really excites and inspires you. Discover what you would be

prepared to do every day even for free! When you are following your passion it won’t even seem like

work to you. Passionate people feel alive with their unwavering sense of direction in life. They exude an

innate confidence and feel like they have total command of their world.

Getting Personal:

– What do you find easy to do?

– What comes naturally to you?

– What makes you smile?

– What do you like to talk about?

– What do you love about yourself?

– What are you confident about?

– What would you regret not doing?

mirror,mirror on the wall…

Our physical appearance is a major part of our sense of self. Yet the definition of beauty is constantly

changing. Not that long ago in the Western world, beauty was voluptuous, rounded hips and cherubic

features. Tall women were considered too masculine and thin women too boyish. In some countries you

are only pretty if you have fair skin and in others people spend all day in the sun trying to turn their skin

golden brown. Beauty can never simply be restricted to one particular physical type, although it

sometimes seems as though it is. Beauty is not something tangible that we can grasp and hold onto, it can

be one of a million tiny things that push us into the ‘beauty box’.

Beauty is within… Some people believe that who they are is just a reflection of what they see in the

mirror. In order to be happy they need to be a foot shorter, have wider hips, a smaller nose or a bigger

bust size. They will wait forever to be happy. I’ve seen all different types of women with different body

sizes, skin colours and features, and I can honestly say that the women who stood out the most, who were

really beautiful, were the ones who glowed from the inside.

Women who radiate inner beauty are attractive to everyone around them. Have you ever met a person

who had ‘that something’ that you couldn’t quite put your finger on, but to whom you were just irresistibly

drawn? It could be a man or a woman; one of your friends who people just love to be around. Someone

who can light up a room may not always be the most conventionally or fashionably ‘beautiful’ person.

They are rather someone who embraces what they’ve been given and they accept and appreciate every

part of themselves. Beauty is not only physical, it’s a way of thinking about yourself – it comes from

within.

The decision to be beautiful… I believe that being beautiful is a decision we make, a state of mind and a

way of being, as opposed to a particular look or style. It’s about knowing that you are worth loving. When

a woman decides to be beautiful she radiates confidence and makes the most of her own traits and

characteristics. I know so many women who might not fit the stereotypical, ‘conventional’ idea of beauty,

but you can see that they have simply decided to be beautiful regardless. As a result, they are doing what

they want to do. These women are saying: ‘I embrace who I am and I’m proud of who I am’.

There is no doubt that being happy about how we look is important. This means accepting the way we

appear and making the most of it, even if it doesn’t fit the world’s standard of beauty. It’s about looking

within yourself and being honest. Embracing who you are means you will take better care of yourself and

show the best of yourself to the world.

Is it easier for me to talk about being beautiful? It is not easier nor is it harder. I am a young woman

who works as a model. I have been given what I have and I am doing the best with what I have been