"It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves." Sir Edmund Hillary

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What is faith to you? Most of the time we would say I have faith in God. Have you heard or anyone who has said I have faith in myself? I rarely have. I have been one of those who have always said I have faith in God. I never really thought about believing in myself. I mean what is there to believe in myself? I never thought there would be a need to believe in myself till the day my coach told me this, “Kaka Singh, I believe in you.” It was then I asked myself do I believe in myself to fulfil my duties as a vice-captain? My answer was no and I even told my coach. However, she did not give in and her actions told me that she has made up her mind and will work with me to lead my team.

It was an interesting journey. I was aware of my flaws but I did not know my strengths. I was surprised at myself. I grew and I started to believe in myself slowly. Then life decided to test me. Our coach had to leave us and we had no coach for some time. It was the captains job to take over the role of the coach now. I was afraid, I was bloody hell shit scared and questioned my faith in myself. How on earth are the 3 captains supposed to handle the entire team? What are we supposed to do during training? There were numerous questions in my head. Of course I did not show it out, I held it in and had a good talk with myself. Eventually, we were able to handle it. I wouldn’t say we did a great job but at that time we did what we knew. I had faith in myself and the rest for holding the team together in such period and I believe we did to some extent.

In my article on hope, I have mentioned that hope is within us, we are hope. Hope is the light(us) that we use to pass through the tunnel. It is the light that carries with it a belief that the downs are there to bring us up. If that is hope, then what is faith? Faith is also you. Faith is your mind. Faith is your thoughts. Faith is the trust in yourself to overcome problems. Let me explain. Now, you are in a dark and scary tunnel and due to the hope within you, the tunnel is now lighted up and you can see everything in the tunnel. A few steps down in the tunnel you see a snake, which appears to be in your way of moving forward. Do you think you can fight or escape that snake? That answer is your faith. If it is a yes it implies that you believe and trust yourself to overcome any obstacles in your life. If your answer is a no then you believe that you are not capable of handling the setbacks in your life. Here, you have 2 choices, having trust in yourself and your abilities to overcome the biggest and smallest obstacles in life and not having any trust in yourself. Which one do you want?

I would go with having faith in myself no matter how big the obstacle appear to be. After passing through the snake, a lion comes! Damn, I would shake, I would really question my faith in myself but you know what, fuck the fear. I will believe in myself and figure a way out. I did that once, handling the team when my coach left (that was the lion) and I can do it again. Look back, reflect on your life. There must have been many lions and snakes along the way in your life and guess what you have passed through all of them and came out of it alive. What makes you think you can’t face the next lion or snake or even dinosaur. You have enough strength to fight any adversity in the face. If you have always have had faith in yourself and your abilities then keep having faith, do not lose it no matter who says what and even when hell breaks lose, you jolly well continue believing in yourself even if no one does. If you do not trust yourself, then my friend, it is time to have faith in yourself and conquer yourself. Once you conquer yourself you will conquer all the lions/snakes/dinosaurs.

My friend, hope is you and so is faith. Its is all filled in you. Be aware of how strong (mentally, physically and spiritually) you are and use that strength in your life to fulfil all your needs, wants, dreams and purposes. Trust yourself, know that you can overcome anything life throws at you. Know that the tunnel is only lighted because of you and you can only forward due to your trust in yourself. Be the hope and faith in your own life!

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