Are you brave enough?

Hello people, what a nice day today...How are you folks doing?? I feel so energetic today and just want to share joy with everyone...

So, today I would like to write an article about motivation...I would like to give you guys encouragement and strength to stand up on your own feet and speak up your mind without having the fear or feeling of people belittled you. yeah, I said the word...brave or courage or guts, whatever you may call it. 

Here's one little secret I learned about courage....: it is a decision. yeah, it is as simple as that, but really, when you think about someone you know, someone very brave and dare and truthful and don't care about speaking up whatever in his/her mind, you think he or she was born with that bravery attribute? NO. As I said, it is a decision. you have to consciously decide whether you want to be heard or you want to be belittled by people. you decide...

Few days ago, I was in my moody situation, I was having a bad day, felt tired, lonely, sad, all those bad things just accumulated in my head, and then I stumbled upon an article about how to be a courageous 

person. The article is in Indonesian, so I will share it to you now guys, I hope after you read it you'll feel better, more energize, more cheerful and most of all, you'll feel free...these are 6 steps you can refer to in order to be bolder:

1. Do Actor Analysis. Imagine someone, could be your friend or family or even celebrity, someone you admire for his/her bravery. Now, take your time, and pretend to be that person (very brave) for at least 1 hour per day for a week. Just as if you're acting...

2. Take Initiative. You know sometimes or most of the times we just feel to shy or nervous to start a conversation or to ask someone out or whatever, but now you need to take the lead. for example, you can offer a snack  or drink to one of your colleagues, or maybe you can 

3. Do Unexpected Things. This thing will really help you to boost up your confidence if you just really push yourself to the extent which you just don't care about other people's opinion. for example, in my case, I would, say, wear something I normally would never wear to office or I would dye my hair or get a new haircut. People who are close to me would ask like 'what happen to you? are you nuts? why you did this to your hair? or why would you wear that clothes?' and I would say in my mind like 'yeah whatever...I am proud of myself...I ain't scared of your opinion, you just being jealous.' But in here I don't mean that you should totally reject every opinion from everybody. some people really care about you, but some people just want to make fun of you...these people who I am talking about. When you do this step, you will learn that it's so tiring to hear and feel afraid of what people would think of me when I do this or this?? cut it off...throw away that nasty thought and be proud of yourself.

4. Ask For What You Want. This is so important. Speak up your mind...If you don't like it, say it...If you think that's bad, say it....If you have a request to someone, ask that person and tell that person about your request...the worst response you can get is no. so you have nothing to lose. Don't get suffered just because you're too shy to say what's in your head...you got my point??

5. Take Risk. In financial accounting class and investment class my lecturer taught me something very important: The biggest risk is not taking any risk...the bigger the risk, the bigger the return. So, what does it mean?? Life is an adventure, make mistakes, do fall in love, enjoy your life while you're still young...the world was meant for us to enjoy.  Sometimes you need to just throw away all the rules and obligations and everything and just do what your heart says...Don't be like: No, I can't do that, that's too dangerous, or No, my mom will be mad at me...Sometimes just act as free as the birds in the sky...or butterflies...

6. Find the True You. I found this is the most important of all these steps. you can decide to be brave, you can decide to do whatever you want, but one thing you need to remember....BE YOURSELF! don't try too hard to make people like you, or to attract people's attention. You know, in my bedroom in Indonesia, I put a quote in my wall, it says: "It's not Rico's job to make people feel happy every single day...I am not a happy machine. just keep it real." Why did I do that? Well, you know you can't deny that at certain point of your life, you'll meet people who don't like you either it's because of jealousy or hatred. The best thing is: ignore them (I don't mean you should be violent towards them.) Don't try so hard to be like someone else. God created us the way we are today for a reason. Just like in my case, I was born with a high-pitched voice unlike other men with bass voices, and I believe there's a reason for it, and I am so extremely proud of my voice, instead of considering it as my weakness and trying to change it, I enforced myself with it. it's my competitive advantage, you know what I'm saying? You were born for a reason. embrace yourself.

Don't forget to smile all the time cause with just a simple smile, your day will be good, trust me. Don't care about what people think of you, just keep it real, don't push yourself too hard to please people--we're not happy machines, consciously decide to be brave and keep smiling :D

God Bless you all...