As a strategic communications major, it’s no surprise that I’ve always been a lover of words. During my childhood years, I’d constantly get in trouble for either talking or reading during class and even carried around a rhyming dictionary, thesaurus, and other language books in my backpack to reference while writing. Although, I jokingly attribute those traits to my prominent Gemini placements, deep down I know that there’s more to it. Words hold a unique and special power to change the world and the people in it—they can hurt, heal, motivate, and discourage. For me, personally, they’re a frequent source of comfort.
I’ve gone through a major period of transformation and growth over the past several years, guided by a few of my favorite quotes. Now adopted as some of my own personal mantras, here are three of my favorite phrases and what they mean to me:
- “Progress, not perfection.”
My parents had very high standards for me as a child, resulting in an exhausting overachiever mindset and a strong fear of failure that’s haunted me for years. While I was able to maintain honor roll status and juggle countless extracurriculars through elementary and middle school, eventually the pressure became too much to bear and I declined rapidly, almost failing out of high school altogether. My motivation in life didn’t immediately recover either and I found myself spending my early adult years with no sense of direction, jumping from entry-level job to entry-level job without any real end goals in mind.
It wasn’t until my late twenties that I realized something needed to change and it was around that time I discovered the quote, “Progress, not perfection.” This specific phrase emphasizes the importance of simply making progress in your life instead of trying to be perfect. For me this helped release some of the pressure I’d been putting on myself for years. For the longest time, I wouldn’t even bother trying to change or improve, trapped in a fixed mindset and too afraid of failure. When I started to take little baby steps towards self-improvement, I realized that life wasn’t about becoming perfect, it was about staying on a consistent path of progress and growth.
- “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.”
If there’s one lesson that’s been proven to me time and time again in recent years, it’s that you have to leave your comfort zone if you want to experience true growth and success. By no means am I an adrenaline junkie or risk-taker, however, I don’t think I realized how addicting facing your fears can be until I started doing it myself. Overcoming one challenge after another has taken my motivation levels to new heights and I frequently find myself thinking to myself, If I was able to do [insert scary thing here], then this will be easy! By ignoring my fear of rejection, I was able to land a job with one of my long-time idols by simply shooting my shot in the comments of a random Instagram post. By swallowing my fears of heights and the deep sea, I was able to enjoy an exhilarating vacation filled with Mayan temple climbing in Belize and scuba diving in Cozumel, Mexico. By pushing aside my decision-making anxieties, I was able to transfer to University of Colorado Boulder and change majors to something I’m truly passionate about. So now, every time I’m faced with a situation that would usually trigger a panic attack, I take a deep breath and face it head on, with the comfort of knowing that whatever’s on the other side is going to be worth it.
- “The Universe has your back.”
I was in a particularly rough spot several years ago. Not only was I struggling with some intense mental health issues and a devastating breakup, but I had just gotten fired from my full-time job and was frantically trying to find a replacement. I remember I had interviewed for a position with a nearby company, convinced I was going to get it—only to receive a rejection phone call a week later. Desperate for any income, I signed on with a temp company in the hopes that it would open doors to a more permanent gig. To my surprise, I received a phone call from the original company that had rejected me two months later asking me if I was still looking for a job, since the person they had hired didn’t work out. It wasn’t until after I accepted that I realized that, without that brief two-month run with the temp company, I wouldn’t have obtained some of the necessary skills needed to succeed in this new job (which ended up being one of the most life-changing jobs I had ever had). When similar occurrences started to become more frequent in following years, I started to notice a pattern of synchronicities. Anytime I got rejected for something or had my plans fall through, there was either a reason for it—like it wasn’t my time or I wasn’t ready for it yet—or there was something better waiting for me. Now, anytime I have someone tell me, “No,” or something doesn’t go my way, I’ll still feel the hurt, but I’ll remind myself that the Universe has my back and everything will be okay.
These three quotes started off by simply capturing my attention, but have now become mantras that guide me through life’s twists and turns, providing me with a level of self-awareness that I hadn’t achieved before. Not only do they inspire me to keep growing and improving until I become the best version of myself, but they also serve as reminders of some of the most impactful lessons I’ve learned—perfectionism isn’t everything, fear is just a stepping stone to something better, and even life’s disappointments can serve a grander purpose in the long run. Whether it’s one of my phrases above or another you’ve discovered on your own, I cannot stress the importance of finding words that reassure you in your times of need and empower you to grow, heal, and thrive.