Whatever shall we do about ‘naysayers’? When I first decided to do this article, I headed to the Internet to do a bit of background research, because after all we know that if it’s on the Internet then ‘it has to be true’! The actual real reason I pursued this was that in all of my 6 decades on this earth, I don’t recall ever hearing this word until about 10 or 15 years ago.
My search led me to a bit of interesting background information. This word had been around since the 18th century and had first been written in 1721. I decided that Merriam Webster defined it best as one who denies, refuses, opposes or is skeptical or cynical about something. Therefore, I pose this question to you: “When you first hear the word ‘naysayer’, is there a specific person that comes to mind.
When I was 10 years old, I discovered my favorite book in the whole wide world, HARRIET THE SPY. Harriet was my hero. She was brave, she was quite the descriptive writer and she was a good evaluator of people. I remember saving my allowance just so I could get a black composition notebook just like hers. Through her, my desire to become a writer was born. Yet just like Harriet, I was discouraged from doing so. I was raised as a child in the 1960’s and it was okay for girls to want to be ballerinas, cooks, seamstresses, secretaries or teachers, even to think about going to a 2-year college or business school. Boys were allowed their fantasies of cowboys, police officers, astronauts and becoming firemen, the noble professions. Our dreams were sheltered, and we did not have many role models or even an expanded way of thinking to go the scope beyond of getting married and starting a family.
As I grew older, my dreams of becoming a writer persisted, yet when I began to investigate college curriculums, there were none. The only thing even remotely related was to get a degree in English Literature. So, giving in to the ways of my upbringing, I decided to escape this little town and go to college and get a teaching degree.
Decades later, my spiritual journey evolved, and I became aware of the New Thought ways of thinking. It was amazing, this new revelation. There were actually people who encouraged us to pull back up our dreams and be who we wanted to be, or at least to think outside the box at the realm of possibilities. Yet just as if we were planning to elope, we had to keep our dreams secret. “Why you might ask?”, because of the ‘naysayers’. There, I said it.
As a teacher, I encouraged my students to dream and to dream big. I looked for positive role models and even made them think outside the box at what they could aspire to be. This brings me to the topic of athletes, because in all my 28 years of teaching, I only had one student to go pro. So, I took the extra time to tutor the athletes in middle school as I knew that for some of them this might be their only time to shine.
I too fell prey to ‘naysayers’, because I had other dreams and aspirations besides teaching. I wanted to be a DJ and yes, I still wanted to write, but was told there was no money in it and I needed to stick to a sure thing. I let people squash my dreams. But one thing I did eventually learn along the way was that words, just like people are fascinating. They can easily lift us up or bring us down. They can make us jump for joy or make us cry.
One day in my mid 30’s, I started writing. The words flowed to me out of nowhere. I found myself keeping notebooks everywhere: in my car, my purse, the kitchen and even the bathroom. As the words came to me, I simply wrote and wrote. Later on, I would gather my notebooks and sit at the kitchen table and pound away on my electric typewriter and slowly, but surely the story came together. Sadly though, the voices of the ‘naysayers’ of my life echoed through my ears and I put the novel in an envelope and stuck it in the back of the closet shelf where it stayed hidden for over 20 years.
After my battle with breast cancer I decided it was time to take it out. Unfortunately, I had to retype it on the computer which was quite a task. I submitted it for publishing and received an awesome review and offer from a renowned publisher. However, I did not have the funds to pay for publishing, so I self published it on Kindle. To this date, I’ve only sold 5 copies, but the important thing is that I did it! Although I did use a pseudonym instead of my real name.
As I began to further my journey in the Law of Attraction, I kept noticing that one of the common and key points to manifesting was to keep your dreams secret. Do not share them with anyone. Writing them down was ok, but they shade of what happened to Harriet when her notebook was found scared me out of even doing that. I did not want to be tormented. I did not want to be laughed at. I did not want to be told that my ideas were stupid and dumb.
So then what do we do about the ‘naysayers’ that touch our lives?
- Do not share your dreams, no matter how excited you are.
- Gradually move away from being in contact with them.
- Amputate them from your life entirely if necessary.
- As crazy as this sounds an acquaintance shared this ritual, though they could not quote the source.
So what can you do to help you attract the good in your life?
- Read, read, read positive literature.
- Surround yourself with positive people.
- Remember the scripture, when two or more are gathered in my name…….
- Post positive quotations.
- Journal memorable uplifting information.
- Expand your mind with free webinars.
- Persevere, persevere, persevere
- Revisit your childhood dreams.
- Explore your options.
- Subscribe to EverythingAttraction.com
P.S. I took a chance and signed up to become a writer for this wonderful online magazine and was chosen to participate in this endeavor. It took me almost 50 years from my HARRIET THE SPY days, but baby…..I made it.
