you to pay attention to every single detail on this article. I would give you a practical insight as to how to unleash the giant in you.
There are two different kinds of personalities in life; which are the INTROVERT & EXTROVERT, in lay mans terms, an INTROVERT is an individual who is naturally shy, not
the outgoing type, keeping to himself etc. The EXTROVERT on the other hand is outgoing, outspoken, confident etc. With that being said, I ask, which category do you belong?
Do you like going out, do you like keeping to yourself? Do you hate being in public places? Does the fear of getting into a room filled with people scare you to death? Are you shy that you cant express yourself even when you have thousands of thoughts and things to say? Now its time to identify yourself, based on your own personal judgement, I want you to grade yourself. Dont worry, its perfectly okay if you are an introvert; I was once like you.lol. Hard to believe right! Many of my friends find this difficult to believe but the truth is at the earlier stage in my life, until about I was 16 years old; I was a shy guy! YES I was!lol. I couldnt talk in talk in the public, the thoughts of talking to a lady scared the crap out of me, I hated going out not because I did not want to, but just because I never felt comfortable with it. As my life advanced, I recognized who I really am and how I would like my life to be; I woke up every morning looking into the mirror and saying to myself "I CAN BE WHATEVER I WANT TO BE". As each day went by I worked on my major weaknesses, I set a target for myself of talking to at least one person I am not familiar with; it wasnt easy I tell you but once you set your focus to it and stick to it like metal sticks to a magnet, you would absolutely break free from this weakness.
Do you know how painful it is to know you could be a star at some events and because you couldnt stand up to take the mantle, you chickened out and someone else did? Sometime in 2002, I was attending a program in my Church, the Priest asked a question which I had the answer, the correct answer was supposed to go home with a gift. I wanted to get off my seat but it seemed like something kept pulling me back, I was thinking of how I was going to stand and face the huge crowd, I knew the answer was correct but some other thoughts kept cropping in saying "What If You Were Wrong", I made to stand up but it felt like my knee had been covered with a gel, I felt sweat running down my spines and finally I did not take that bold step; someone else did and he got the gift. I felt real bad, my Dad was there, he would have been proud of me if I had done that but because I was shy, I couldnt make the move.
Enough of the stories lets go into the real thing. There is a Giant inside of you; do you know that? He is waiting for you to take control, he is waiting for you to make the move! All you need to do is to wipe away every conscious act, forget about the crowd of people all around you, walk and talk like you were the only one in the world. I got into the Higher Institution in 2004 with a new spirit, in fact I self appointed my self as the class coordinator because nobody would do that. It wasnt because I was an extrovert, it was because I told myself I was going to be a different person, I was going to be that person who never cares about the number of people in a room. Taking that step helped me a lot in my life even though I was still a bit scared sometimes but because of the air of confidence I surrounded myself with, you would hardly know. Below are some tips to help you unleash the Giant inside of you:
Recognize Who You Are: As earlier said, the first step is for you to understand the kind of person that you are. Do you flare up easily? Do you bottle up anger and unleash like a volcano? Do you like being alone to yourself? Do you like to go out and meet new people everyday?
Identify Your Strengths: What are you good at? Can you manage people? Can you talk to people and make them feel better than they were? Are you strong willed? You alone know exactly all these, after you have identified your strengths, you need to work on them by utilizing each one of them on a daily basis. You find out that the more you do this the better you become.
Identify You Weaknesses: Tell me any man that says he has no weakness and I will show you a liar. No matter how perfect you try to be, there is always a lacuna somewhere in your life. Most great men have their weaknesses, most great men and women were shy people. I give you three examples:
The first person who suffered from shyness is a well-known red-head.Her name was Lucille Ball and she is quoted as saying, “Heaven, no. I was shy for several years in my early days in Hollywood until I figured out that no one really gave a damn if I was shy or not, and I got over my shyness.” As you can see from Lucy’s quote, shyness is a feeling, not a permanent aspect of your being. It is something that is changeable.
The second person who is famous but who suffered from shyness is Eleanor Roosevelt. Can you imagine that the First Lady of the free world, a seasoned politician, diplomat, writer, wife, mother, and teacher was shy? She was very much in the public eye during her husband’s tenure as President of the United States so how did she endure it? We can gain some insight into her thought process by examining what she said. For one, she is quoted as saying, “In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die, and the choices that we make are ultimately our responsibility.” She also said, “You gain strength, experience and confidence by every experience where you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you cannot do.” This sentiment could be applied to any situation, much less facing social anxiety.
The last person who suffered from shyness that may surprise you is Tom Hanks, an award winning film actor. Tom is extremely well known, starring in various blockbuster movies like Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, Cast Away, and Sleeping in Seattle. I think he sums it up best when he says, “If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. It’s the hard that makes it great.” It may be hard to overcome shyness, but it is not impossible. Take heart from the examples who have lived before you and lived a public life in the face of feeling shy.
Some other weakness could include lack of time management skills, no challant attitude, lack of people skills etc. The keypoint is to indentify and fix.
Implore Creative Imagination and Think Outside the Box: Doing things differently from what every other person is doing sets your apart from the crowd, it makes you unique, it makes you product different results. Most times we are constrained to doing things the conventional way; doing things the way they have always been done. What if you could implore your creative imagination, what if you could achieve better results, wouldnt it be great? Think about it!
Go An Extra Mile: Most times we give up too easily as human beings, we fail to realize we are close to the finish point and then we give up just because we think the journey is still far away. The story was told of a woman who swam across the river in a contest, the weather was foggy and she couldnt see the other side of the river, she kept on swimming in anticipation she was getting closer to the other end but the more she kept swimming the farther she felt it was. She gave up and then when it was revealed to her the destination was closed by she lamented "Only if I had gone an extra mile". I understand that most times, life could be hard on you, nothing seems to work, but if you can adopt this single idea of going an extra mile, you can always do more that what you believe you could do.
Implore Consistency in Your Sojourn to Become a Better Person: Albert Einstein failed a couple of times before he was able to fix the light bulb! Ponder on that.lol.
Leverage on the Use of Horoscopes to Understand Yourself and People Around You: I have found the use of this very helpful in my life sojourn I am a Cancer and I have found almost all the information on cancers to be through so I take what I need to take, learn what I need to learn, and work on myself.
Using the Mirror Formula Spend 5 minutes in front of your mirror everyday and say to yourself " I am a Conqueror! I am a Giant! I am a King! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"
Just keep acting and practicing, soon enough you become that Giant you intend to be. One more thing, this should have probably come first; A simple prayer to God for Wisdom works!!! I have tried it and you should.
Until next time.
Ikenna Victor Agina
agina.ikenna@gmail.com
agina.ikenna@gmail.com
