Getting rid of the defeatist mentality

Day 318 / 366

I find myself wondering a lot these days why I am not able to do as much as I used to in the past.

Maybe I have gotten older? I don’t want to believe that. Besides I have seen several people in their 30s work much harder. Even back in college when I used to work in startups, the founders would be 35 yet I would have a hard time keeping up with them. So, age is surely not the issue here.

I think it is all in my head. Back in the day, I used to believe in myself a lot. But I think now I have accepted defeat in a lot of areas of my life. For instance, I have just accepted the fact that I will not be able to work late hours after I get back from the office. I have accepted that I cannot wake up at 4 AM each day. I have accepted that I cannot pull all-nighters anymore.

My cousin got married in January this year. On the day of the wedding, my Mom and Dad stayed up all night for all the rituals. Dad had to drive us back to Jabalpur the next day, and we had all insisted that he get some sleep. But he powered through it. We left that city at 2 PM, reached Jabalpur around 7, and Dad, having stayed up for almost 48 hours, went to sleep at 10. He is almost twice my age. If he can do it, why can’t I?

We need to stop thinking that we cannot do certain things. Nothing good will come of just continuing to give yourself this negative self-talk. We need to replace the words in our brain. “I’m so bad at this” should turn into “I’m learning and I’ll get there soon!”. Your inner voice should be your biggest cheerleader.

Learn to laugh at your setbacks. See problems as challenges. And never forget to back yourself up.