• Face-to-face positive affirmation does more for the realization of dreams than monetary investment.
  • Encouragement is the role of fathers, mothers, mentors, followers, and true believers.
Plebs, I wonder if we share this in common: we live our lives out quietly, going about the work that we firmly believe has a positive impact on our future. Yet, sometimes the silence manifests as misery. A miserable feeling. A feeling that you are wasting your one precious life.
This week, such a feeling has descended on me. When I am visited by such a burden, it shows itself as resentment toward my responsibilities, intense ideation of a different life, time traveling to the past, and a desire to do nothing but seek comfort and indulge in it. It turns me into a person I don't like very much. Though I have a strong will and a moral center, I feel powerless against the weight of my own existentialism, which is something I have fought for my life to overthrow before.
I know the antidote is encouragement.
Encouragement: recognizing another and offering praise. It is important, it works miracles, and it is much needed.
Think of a newborn calf, all sticky skin and wobbly legs. The calf takes his first gulps of air and strains to lift his brand new body up to proclaim the miracle of his life. His little feet are unsteady, and he can't straighten them beneath himself. He falls in a heap of growing bones. But he tries again, and this time, mother is right there. She sees his struggle and comes near. With her nose, she gives baby a nudge. His head raises, his muscles line up in the right sequence. He stands, his first minute in the world.
The calf should illustrate the simplicity of encouragement, as well as its crucial place in our brutal world.
As a human race, unleashed on this planet, we have many factors stacked against us, hindering our success, making a peaceful existence hard-fought. In modern times, those factors have largely changed from external to internal. And internal battles are difficult to see, the carnage they result in can be hidden or disguised. So what we have is individuals that likely feel no connection to another soul, their will power withering away silently, their choices defined by survival.
I believe simple encouragement makes a difference. Acknowledgement and affirmation are precise weapons that cut down doubt and fear in one blow.
If you are building something, you likely need encouragement along the way, or else you're in danger of becoming convinced that you will never finish, or that no one will care if you finish, or that you're not capable enough to finish. One person can look into your life and your work, say, "I understand, keep going," and you flourish as a result. If you are a leader in any way, without encouragement, you risk believing the lies that can so easily creep in disguised as criticism or cynicism. You need to be reminded of your purpose, encouragement delivers this. If you are a pleb going quietly about your life, there are threats you face at every corner. Your conviction is attacked, your belief is questioned, your devotion is judged. I see you, and I'm right there with you. There are a lot of things I would wish to change, as I'm sure you would. But be encouraged, know that your commitment to the future is worthy of your work today.
I urge you, do not hesitate to dole out encouragement like its too many plums from your garden. I could use it!
333 sats \ 1 reply \ @AD_ 17 Aug
First, this is beautifully written. Be encouraged in that friend, I strive to be able to write like this and I am inspired by you.
Yet, sometimes the silence manifests as misery. A miserable feeling. A feeling that you are wasting your one precious life.
When our loved ones are asleep, when the notifications don’t ding, when we are alone late in night. That’s when the monsters creep in. The demons of doubt are always in the periphery and they wait until we are at our weakest… alone.
resentment toward my responsibilities, intense ideation of a different life, time traveling to the past, and a desire to do nothing but seek comfort and indulge in it.
I relate to this strongly, and it can come to a point that it is crippling. For me that manifests in procrastination, just allowing myself to be taken away by the distractions and the alternative time lines. But we fight against it don’t we, we must.
Here’s my take:
One person can look into your life and your work, say, "I understand, keep going," and you flourish as a result.
For me, that one person is Christ. In those moments when you are alone, in the darkness, and the demons of doubt are biting at your heal, I remember that I’m actually not alone, I never was. When I’m fallen, face down in the mud, he’s down in the mud with me and he says “I understand, keep going.” He’s the one that keeps me going, keeps me encouraged and as long as I remember he’s there I never feel alone. I say this as a long distance truck driver, who’s literally always alone.
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Amazing, I appreciate your comment so much. Beautiful writing seems to come naturally to you as well. Your experience of loneliness has got to be way different than mine, but I also work alone. It was hard to get myself to work this week, but hey, we fight against it, you know?
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I can recommend doing weekly encouragement sessions.
I do it as a solopreneur with another solopreneur and we are sharing our challenges and achievements each week to keep us aligned with the values we stand for.
Real honest encouragement is priceless (it’s also hard to find). If you get it, embrace it with full humbled feelings.
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112 sats \ 14 replies \ @k00b 16 Aug
You're doing a great job. :)
I'm the The President of Projection when it comes to not needing encouragement. I effectively had zero or negative encouragement growing up. For some reason I feel like not criticizing is encouragement.
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I personally received too much encouragement as a child. My mom was a bit of a helicopter parent until my teen years. Love my mom, she’s the best but yeah we had a rough few years when I was faced with the reality that I needed to grow up and accept the world didn’t revolve around me.
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Everyone who reads this:
“This explains so much” haha
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were you an only child?
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Yes. Still am.
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10 sats \ 6 replies \ @anon 17 Aug
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Hmm, works for me. Maybe not as anon though. I think ek mentioned a similar issue the other day after the last major deploy
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But yea this is what I see when not signed in
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141 sats \ 3 replies \ @k00b 17 Aug
Oh it's the sats filter because those are free. I'll try to fix today.
I grew up in the same way, or with the lack of encouragement. For my father to say a good job, something big must have happened.
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Sometimes everyone experiences life tests, but these tests are different for each person, I personally never received encouragement, but the motivation came from myself.
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35 sats \ 1 reply \ @Golu 17 Aug

Encouragement grows confidence.

That's the best outcome I can think of for me.
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More of this. We need to stop comparing ourselves to others online and build each other up in person!
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This one resonated deeply inside me as I’m facing the exact same situation currently.
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cheers to you, pal
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You need to be reminded of your purpose, encouragement delivers this.
Yes, of course! There are my reminders that have encouraged me to keep going when faced with the challenges that life affords. In many ways, these challenges were a gift; tough to see in the throes of it, but easy to see on its recollection.
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Awesome post. I encourage you to continue your craft and sharing it with your fellow stackers!
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appreciate it :)
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I believe simple encouragement makes a difference. Acknowledgement and affirmation are precise weapons that cut down doubt and fear in one blow.
Yes, encouragement can makes differences. I totally agree with this post.
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Great read. Encouragement helps us feel that we are seen and that our work matters
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Dedicating yourself to or seeking to achieve a dream or project will always have to have some internal or external stimulus that will always push us to a project or set some type of goal.
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stackers have outlawed this. turn on wild west mode in your /settings to see outlawed content.