The "Why Not?" Attitude

Contributing Author: Slatan Dryke

During our lives, we must deal with some challenges. They may be physical or mental disabilities. In others, they are simply a lack of trust in our energy and perspective. To take up challenges can be good for personal improvement. You can do it to break down some barriers created by wrong rules and ignorance.

So why do we accept a challenge? Doing this is a means to generate the energy and the impulse to create a custom-made life. Everyone should discover or invent an "extraordinary obsession” that motivates us to create better lives for ourselves. It does not matter how complex it can be; for many people, it can be just to make some physical progress or have a positive thought.

We must find a challenge for the following reasons:

1. Never wait for happiness, build it!
2. Never wait for the right opportunity, cause it!
3. Learn to do something for yourself to beautify your life, then it will be easier to do the same with others’ lives.

For many the fear of failure is stronger than the wish for success. Self-confidence becomes an attitude to develop: a small victory leads to a bigger one. Confidence is an essential outlook for good health and better quality of life.

Optimism comes from a Latin word, "optimum", that means the greater good, and in some people, it is not just an inclination but also a philosophy focused to find the better aspects, the promising opportunities in their lives.

We should learn how to develop a positive self-talk, even if it is only to think, "I cannot change my situation." Every one of us holds a continuous inner dialogue. With time, what we say to ourselves creates a strong foundation for our subconscious and it feeds into our deepest thoughts and feelings. "I am capable, I like myself, I am valiant." The subconscious reacts positively and we become better able to face the daily challenges and the future goals we want to reach.

An optimistic statement is a declaration full of emotional intensity, able to inspire the changes we want and seek. There are so many examples of people who have flipped things from a personal benefit to a global radical change: "Why not, I can do it" or "I did a lot, I cannot stop now."

So, whatever it is that you wish, whatever the challenge you set yourself to accomplish, once you have achieved it, this will be a renaissance. Every person has the desire for some renewal, small or big, while being able to have the right perception on what we are and which are our best qualities, yet also ready to accept our limitations.

You CAN change the circumstances. You CAN deal with a challenge, when you have a "why not?" attitude.

View this YouTube clip for an inspiring story about Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to enter the Boston Marathon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOGXvBAmTsY.

Images from the public domain: Alan Turing, Amelia Earhart, Artemisia Gentileschi, Edward Jenner, Emmeline Pankhurst.