From the time we are born and throughout our lives, we discover our strengths and weaknesses. Talents and skills surface and strengthen as we try new things and learn more and more about ourselves and the world around us. Some of us learn by default and do not really take the time to invest in ourselves. We are too busy just trying to get by. We disregard things that seem irrelevant or challenge our frame of reference, our safe place, what is comfortable and familiar. Some, hide behind blame, self-doubt, or accept what is given rather than challenging themselves to rise to a higher level of thinking. Others seek to understand. They challenge themselves to learn and build their knowledge base, broadening their understanding of everything like a sponge, just soaking up whatever information they can. They make an investment in themselves. They do what needs to be done and, in so doing, create the person they choose to be. This, of course, is the definition of self-confidence. It's also being your own best friend!

       You are the architect of your life. You can choose to continue allowing undesirable behaviors to form a destructive pattern that suffocates you in a world of negativity and hurt, like a cancer. You can let your mind trick you into believing that you cannot find your way out. This feeling consumes you, but at the same time becomes comfortable. It gives you an excuse for everything that is going wrong in your life. You fall into the trap of living by default, not really living at all, because you are not choosing, but rather allowing what has become the norm for your life.