I was brought up by two very loving parents who always made me feel as though I could do and be anything I wanted and that the world was my oyster. I was also lucky to know what I wanted to do with my life at the young age of 13, and that was to be a Beauty Therapist. A couple of years later at 15 I also realised that I wanted to travel the world!
So after finishing school at 16 I naturally went to Beauty school and was qualified by the time I was 18, a year later I found myself ‘living the dream’ in Greece and Antigua. I’m now 26 and teach Beauty Therapy to young girls (and mature women) who like me want to succeed in making people feel good about themselves
It’s since I’ve been teaching that I’ve realised my upbringing was a very fortunate one; many young people (certainly the ones I’ve met through teaching) don’t seem to come from the same background that I did. No, instead a lot of my students are very self deprecating and are lacking in self-confidence; they wear a lot of make-up, which they hate taking off for facials, and yet when I see their skin it’s actually beautifully clear and flawless. Every day I meet yet another student who comes from a depraved background to say the least, who truly believes they will amount to nothing, who openly admits to having parents who make them feel ‘unworthy’. I appreciate that having never met these parents what I’m lead to believe could be completely untrue, but after 4 years in teaching I do believe what I have seen, and that is young people who are put down every single day of their lives, who play up in my salon simply because they want some sort of attention, who no doubt were failed by the education system hence why they’re on a Beauty course (it’s a known fact that if you don’t do well at GCSE or Standard grades you’re ‘advised’ to do Hair, Beauty or Childcare ‘because they’re easy subjects’ –YEAH RIGHT!!! You show me how many other people have to learn Latin terminology as part of their course!)
I guess what I’m saying is I’ve always believed that whatever I wanted could be mine; anything from the last car parking space at work to that awesome teaching job at the age of 22 – and it’s not because I’m a spoiled brat (quite the opposite in fact), but because I’m a positive thinker, and I truly believe those who think positive attract positive things; those who remain positive ‘see’ the way and the resources to get them to where they want to be. Those of us who are naturally negative (and 9 times out of 10 it’s through learning to think that way in my opinion) can’t see how to achieve these things simply because their eyes are closed to them.
A very good friend of mine is a perfect example; he was brought up by a mother who didn’t want him, he joined the army at 17 and has seen horrors the rest of couldn’t even imagine, 10 years later he still believes he is ‘nothing’, that he is ‘worthless’. He has gone from job to job after leaving the army but never excelled with a company because ‘he’s not been suitable for promotion’, and I firmly believe his biggest problem is that he has a lack of self-confidence and doesn’t believe in himself, which then transfers at interviews. I find myself thinking positive thoughts for him constantly in the hope he ‘catches a break’. Luckily he has and it seems he’s finally doing something that makes him genuinely happy. But how many other people can that happen for if they don’t believe in themselves? Who else is going to ‘think positive’ for them?
I’m not the most confident person in the world myself, if anything as I’ve gotten older I’ve found my confidence diminish, but when I want something and I want it 100% and truly believe it is mine before I’ve even got it, then I always do get it. For the first time in my life I was unsuccessful at a job interview this year, which really knocked my self belief for a moment. But then I remembered that if isn’t meant to be, it isn’t meant to be, and something better will come along. That night my mom alerted me to a job back in my home town; I had an interview 3 weeks later, and they offered me the job less than 30 minutes after I left! Why? Because I knew it was mine, because I believed in myself enough to put across the right first impression at interview.
The power of positive thought is greatly underestimated and you can call me a hippy if you like, and say I’m speaking rubbish. But it works for me, so why can’t it work for everyone else? Whenever I meet someone who is naturally negative I remind them that the world is a small place and it isn’t hard (or wrong) to dream big, because you can be whatever you want to be as long as you want it bad enough and you actually start to believe in yourself
