Develop self-assurance

A person with self-assurance has a set of values, beliefs and perceptions that are unshakeable and are those that one does not easily forsake. One takes a resolute stand on issues and stands by it, come what may. Unlike a weak-minded person who may waver depending on whims and fancies, one with self-assurance will have unbridled faith and trust and will not get swayed by an opponent’s viewpoint, no wonder how persuasive the opponent may be. One remains confident, calm and composed.

Indeed, one who is self-assured undoubtedly has huge reserves of determination, grit and tenacity. One also has a belief in the redeeming power of hope, and will not give up, nor give in, but give it all they’ve got. One is intuitively governed by Francis Gay’s words, “Never give up hope for you never know what faith and tomorrow can bring.” One sports an optimistic and positive outlook even in dire circumstances, believing that there is usually “sunlight after a long dark tunnel.”

P B Shelley could not have struck a truer chord in his poem, ‘Ode to the West Wind’, when he wrote, “When winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”

One who is self-assured has no qualms in taking the first step even in an unknown or dicey scenarios. This is because  one has imbibed Dr Martin Luther King’s quotation, “One should have the faith to take the first step even when one can’t see the entire staircase.”

A woman with uncanny courage and self-assurance to withstand pressure against all odds, was flight purser, (the now late) Neerja Bhanot, now in the news due to the movie biopic made on her. Neerja had saved more than 300 passengers on the ill-fated hijacked Pan Am Flight 72 on September 5, 1986. This larger-than-life special woman had presence of mind to think on her feet. She hid the American passports astutely which helped in saving those lives. When Neerja’s own life  was threatened, she first thought of the passengers’ safety and saved them first. For this, she was point-blank shot dead.
A beautiful life cut short forever, and by “beautiful”, I am referring neither to her pretty, chiseled facial features nor her near-perfect figure, but the beauty of her chivalric, heroic soul.