Last week, whilst in Bristol, I saw this written on a lamp-post, and my finger had to press the shutter button. At the time, it was just an inspirational message on a lamp-post. However, since then, my imagination has been going a little wild, and I could feel a blog post coming on. There are unlimited amounts of meanings that you could attach to “Keep the faith”. The meanings I attach to it are not related to religion. Instead, it is more about keeping the faith in yourself, and those around you, and your dreams, your passions, your life. That is where I believe you should keep the faith.
Keep the faith in yourself. It is you who has to carry your dreams, your soul; it is you who has the ultimate power in deciding where you want your life to head. People can tell you things, give you their opinions and make you feel a certain way, but at the end of the day, it is what you think that matters the most. Don’t put yourself down, don’t belittle yourself and don’t beat yourself up. The mind is a powerful thing, and your thoughts can be like daggers; learn to harness positive thoughts, and learn to love yourself. Only when you can love yourself, can you move forward in a truly constructive way, without anything holding you back. Yes, you must have faith in yourself, because if you don’t believe in yourself, then who will. You are your own best friend, and the more you believe this, the more you can openly share yourself with others. You are you, and to be anyone else would be a betrayal; never be a second rate version of someone else, always be a first rate version of yourself. Stay true, and keep the faith.
Keep the faith in others. There will be people in your life who mean a lot to you. If you don’t feel like you have those people in your life right now, then just hold on, because one day, your life will be enriched by the people in your life. Let those you love know how much you love them, tell them in quirky, new ways. Spend time with them. If they’re following a dream, give them motivation, give them someone to lean back on when the days are long and hard. We are all fighting a hard battle sometimes, so don’t knock others, and don’t dismiss others’ worries and fears, for they are just as real as your own. Be a good friend. Let people know that you are there for them, and carry that through; be there. Make some cups of tea, and sit with them. Make them laugh. Lighten their load. Believe in others, and their dreams. Keep the faith in others, it is important.
Keep the faith in what you do. For the most part, it is most likely what you have chosen to do. If it’s not, then start on the journey to changing this. Follow your heart. In the words of Steve Jobs: “Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.” Any great journey has it’s low points too, so even if you are going through some of your worst days, don’t give up. Keep going, because you’re moving towards greater things. With the faith in yourself, and the faith in others, you can put the faith in what you do as well. Believe.
Just keep going, and don’t give up. This is so important. You will encounter people who will tell you what you can’t do. You will meet people who will have more of a negative impact on your life, rather than a good one. There will be people who just don’t see what you see. What you need to do is just rise above it all. Some people have a very limited outlook on things; but just remember, they haven’t been through what you’ve been through, so how do they have the power to say what is right or wrong for you? This year, I have come across someone that I hardly knew at all, but we knew through a mutual friend; and when this friend and I fell out, this person decided to try and bring me down. It resulted in me shutting down my FaceBook account, and closing myself off from all the people who know me. It was a good and bad thing; good because I needed the time away, I needed to discover myself again and give myself the time to heal, and bad because his words stuck with me, never underestimate the power of words. There will be people who will want to tear people down, to hurt people deliberately, but there are also people who want to support people, and build people up. Find the people who speak to your heart, and love them. Keep going, because brighter days could be just around the corner, and never, never give up. I was lucky. I had a handful of people who wouldn’t give up on me, they persisted, and they are special people. Sometimes it is in the worst of times that we find out who really cares. Seriously, find those who will be the light in your darkness, it will make all the difference.
Keeping the faith is one of the driving forces of life, and it can mean different things to different people, but these things above are the things that are important to me. Wherever your faith lies, look after it, and never let anyone knock your faith. You are strong, you can overcome the bad days and embrace the good days. Live your dreams.
in…
