In this episode, we spoke with Zahra Syeda and explored the theme of mental well-being, more specifically how perseverance and self-confidence play a role in living a joyful life.
Zahra is CEO of 4D Health Services in Canada and as a mental health counselor, Zahra helps people affected by stress, anxiety, depression, phobias, emotional issues and relationship problems. You can follow her on LinkedIn or check out her website!
Here is a quick sum-up of this week’s episode and the main points we discussed!
Passion, purpose, perseverance, positivity
As a medical doctor and a mental health counselor, Zahra herself has seen and helped people go through numerous different kinds of obstacles regarding physical health, as well as helped her clients reach great personal and professional goals. The woman herself has also had to have great strength and perseverance and having seen people from many different cultures, religions and other backgrounds during her lifetime, she has gotten a great set of knowledge and tools to get both herself and others to keep on going when life demands it.
A lot can be theorized through psychology textbooks and life lessons, but to keep it simple, Dr. Syeda says she herself has her so-called ”three P’s” which she says she never leaves. Passion, purpose, and perseverance. ”If you miss any one of those, you’re missing the goal.” she explains. ”And the fourth one is positivity”, she adds to the list quickly.
Syeda’s advice is to always reflect on whatever you are doing to these first 3 P’s. Ask yourself, ”What is my passion? What’s my purpose? How can I just continue and never give up?”.
The last P – Positivity – is just there to make your days better in general, which makes everything easier. A persona has around 7000 thoughts per day, and a whopping 80% of them are negative. Dr. Syeda explains to us by great examples that keeping your focus on the 20% positives instead of the 80% negatives can make a huge difference in your everyday life, which then will transform into how you see the world and yourself.
Your mind is like a magnet, you attract what you think.
Dr. Zahra Syeda
Building self-confidence is sometimes easier said than done, but it is worth it
Believing in yourself is at the core of perseverance, but sometimes building the self-confidence needed to do that takes time. The experiences life throws at us can sometimes be too much, and rather than building us up, they leave wounds that need to be carefully taken care of.
”Traumas are like scars. Bullying in childhood, for example, you lose all your self-confidence, and self-esteem. Even if you have everything needed to succeed, you cannot see it yourself. That’s how distorted body image or distorted self prevents you from seeing yourself realistically. You’re not able to appreciate all those superhero powers that are already there.”.
When working on something for a long period of time, it is important to remind yourself of the fifth P – Progress. It isn’t needed to always seek perfection, but rather, progress. Speak kindly to yourself and see that small steps over a long period of time will transfer to a great change.
Progress is progress no matter how small, and reminding yourself of that through positive thinking is the last key you need to keep on pursuing whatever your personal goals and dreams you may have!
Only so much can be said in a quick blog post, so if you are interested in hearing the rest of the episode and our discussion you can listen to this week’s episode on every major podcast platform, or from here!
Remember to subscribe to our social media channels and share your thoughts with us in the comment sections, or by using #joysuperpowers ! We wish you a great week and see you again next week with a new episode and a guest!
