One of my pet peeves is that people always say they're not good at anything. But that's not true! Let's give an example. What if you say that you're terrible at drawing and I'm extremely good. Well, here's something to say to that.
I don't go to drawing class, and people say I'm amazing at it. The last part of mine that I made in Akbar's Face Factory was drawn without a mouse, and I think it's pretty good. You see, you just need to practice.
Don't beat yourself down. I tended to do that and be modest, but don't. That made me become discouraged, and it hindered my abilities to learn quicker.
A few years back, I vaguely remember me coloring with one of my friends in a coloring book. She would always say, "Joy! You're so good!" But I denied it and said that it was just nothing. I thought that I was being modest; I insisted on that in my brain. I really didn't think I was that good, though.
One day my mother said, "Joy, stop being so rude. It's unkind if you deny it when people compliment you." To this, I was shocked. What was so rude about it? Wasn't it polite when you said stuff like that? But that night, I pondered it over. Maybe it wasn't so polite. Really, I was actually denying what people thought of me. I was refusing their offers and their thoughts. They were just being nice! It was like not wanting someone's help when you were hurt. It was a sort of pride. They were just trying to offer a compliment to heighten my self-esteem.
But not only was I being rude to them and showing that I was somewhat prideful, in a way. I was also lowering my confidence in myself. I was insisting that I was bad. And you know what? That's not good! The more you think about it, the more you discover that it's true. Yet it's still confusing; even for me, a person who has been thinking about it for years - ever since my mother told me that it was rude and unkind. Still, though, I have that habit of saying, "No! I'm no good at anything!" I really need to shake that habit off. It's like any bad habit, automatically letting the words slip from my mouth.
And, well, that's only just part of my large story. But I have condensed it so that people don't look at it and think, 'I'm not reading that!'
So for those who maybe aren't the best at something, and even those that are more similar to me and are good at many things but have low self-esteem:
Just practice and hold your head high. Don't deny that you're good when you are, and when you're "bad", strive to be great. I'm not telling you to be prideful, but I'm trying to give you advice. Don't discourage yourself and say words that are not true. Do not lie to yourself or to others. Continue on and practice. Don't listen to those jerks who say, "Oh, you're not good!" because they're wrong.
The basics of what I'm saying: Keep practicing, don't be discouraged, and never give up.
