I believe that the only person you have to prove anything to is yourself. I’ve learned this through my high school sports and activities I did on my own. I have always been attracted to individual sports because I liked to work by myself and when I succeeded I knew it was my own efforts.
I wrestled and I weight lifted, both sports where I am the only one participating. What I put in, I get out. By that I mean you know what to expect as far as an outcome. Like I had a general idea of what the outcome of one my matches was going to be by how hard I practiced the week before. Same kind of thing with weight lifting, if I lifted hard during the workout then I knew I was going to be sore. It was up to me to prove to myself what I was capable of. This principle grew on me throughout my athletic career. No one around me cared enough to push my limits on how hard I trained in the gym or how hard I practiced. Most people look at the final product and make judgments from that.
It got to me what people thought about me. It caused a lot of stress and depression, but it never mattered what they thought. I was always the happiest when I was proud of myself. As I continued wrestling in high school, after a tournament my dad would say, “Son, how do you feel,” and I always responded with the usual, “alright,” or “not bad.” He then would ask, “Are you proud of yourself?” to that I would answer, “Of course!” and then he would say, “That’s all that matters.” At the time it didn’t mean much, but now looking back on it, he was right. What I think of myself is the only thing that matters.
Now being in college, my dad isn’t here to remind me that I have to be proud of myself. It is my job to do that. It is my job to keep my spirits up and to keep that drive going. It is my job to continue to be proud of myself and of the work I do.