Don't doubt it!

"When in doubt, don't!"

- Benjamin Franklin

Have you ever been in a situation where you picture something going one way in your head to find it turns out completely differently?

Maybe you have decided on a new paint for a room your decorating, in your head it looked good, but reality was it didn't look so good. Or maybe you you have planned an event, a bash. In your head it worked out perfectly yet in practice it didn't go quite as you thought. I guess that is one of the things that happens when you try something for the first time. Likewise sometimes we can think of things going badly because we have never done them before, but find out that actually it turned out better than we thought. This was exactly what happened to me today.

Today I had to speak at a conference which was attended by pupils from all the local Secondary schools. As someone who works with children and staff day in day out, talking in front of people is not a problem. In fact I thrive on it. But speaking in front of a room full of teenagers at the end of a long day, with pupils who were probably ready to go home, this presentation was going to be a bit of a challenge. In my head it was going to be a disaster. Somehow I would just have to get through it.

So the time came to present to the pupils. I won't go into the details about the disasters that happened before I even got to the conference, with parking tickets and nowhere to park. This was it. This was going to be a first for me.  I had never presented to a crowd of this size before and in my head I was going over every possible situation. But as I got up, loaded up the presentation and began to speak everything went smoothly. I couldn't believe it. I had their attention, they all listened and seemed interested in what was being said and responded well to the whole presentation. I had done something for the first time and it had gone well. Wow! Why am I so shocked? Why did I doubt myself?

It's always the same in life. When we try something for the first time we very often doubt that we are going to be able to do it, or something will go wrong, it won't go to plan. Very quickly we start looking at what might go wrong instead of focusing on what might go right. This was certainly the case today. Instead of it being a disaster as I had thought, it turned out to be a great success. Doing things for the first time doesn't always mean it's going to end in disaster.

And so I end with this thought.

Life is filled with moments and opportunities to do something new. To try something you never have before. Yet so many times we turn down these opportunities because we let doubts come in. We focus on that what ifs rather than just giving something a go. It's funny how doubt comes so easily, yet confidence takes so much longer to develop.

In life, make the most of every opportunity you have. Don't turn down things because you've never done them before. Don't doubt yourself. Life is filled with opportunities and times to do things for the first time so embrace them, be confident and go for it. In the words of Dr. Pepper, "What's the worst that can happen?" Yes there is a chance that something might not go to plan, but there's also a bigger chance that it will!

Today, try something new, live life on the edge and don't doubt yourself! You CAN do it!

Bywyd sydd yn byw! - Just living life!

RM