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How I Learned to Push Myself Without Tearing Myself Down
Life-changing advice from a stranger on the internet
I watched a video this morning on Instagram, and it left me shook, and now that is something that doesn’t happen to me every day.
Honestly, I’ve seen elephants vanish onstage during magic shows, and even that barely surprised me.
Okay, coming back to the video.
A guy is lifting 70-pound dumbbells to do a bench press.
A girl comes up to talk to him.
Girl: Wow, that’s really impressive.
Guy: Nah, this is nothing.
Girl: No, that’s amazing—70 pounds, Wow!
Guy: But compared to what others my size can bench, I’m barely cutting it.
Girl: Hey, hey, don’t say that. You can challenge yourself without the negative self-talk.
I mean, I was blown away.
I couldn’t believe how this thought never occurred to me.
That every time I needed to push or challenge myself, I didn’t have to drown myself in self-doubt and use harsh criticism to compare myself to those who were doing better than me.
