I was so astounded that I actually made it to 70 that I thought this blog would be a good way to track the journey after reaching that milepost. Why was I astounded? Well, I assumed I would die young. You see, my mother died at age 51 of lung cancer. In spite of that, I continued smoking, and figured that would take me too. Of course, I didn’t account for the fact that my mother never smoked, and it was something else that prompted the growth of the cancer in her lungs. When I reached 51, then 52, then 53 and realized I was still healthy, I began trying in earnest to quit, and finally managed to quit using the patch on January 1, 1993 at age 54. Although it could come back to bite me, I am through the major period of post-quitting risk and should be ok.
But the self-defeating belief could have killed me! I could have contracted lung cancer along the way to 54, and not be writing this blog today. Luckily, I didn’t. I did survive prostate cancer, and have just had a minor bout with a tiny skin cancer, but am overall a very healthy man at 71.
How many of us have one kind of self-defeating belief or another? Mine could have cost my life, but didn’t. Do I have others? Sure, you bet. Do you? I’ll bet you do. For example, I fight all the time with a belief that I am not a good marketer. So that belief leads me away from the kind of marketing tasks that could build my business. I’m working on unwrapping that belief so that I can put it to rest and move on, but it is a challenge.
What are your self-defeating beliefs? What do you to to unwrap them, expose them to the light of day, and let them go away?
Until next time!
