Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Meera Sharma. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Meera, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
My confidence and self-esteem has certainly got stronger as I’ve got older. It was actually when I turned 30 that I literally woke up and stopped caring what people think of me, from there onwards my self confidence got stronger. Don’t let people rent space in your head for free..!
It was a combination of not caring what people think of me – as long as you are proud of yourself, know you’ve made the right decisions in life for you, are happy with yourself then that’s all that matters – and getting more into health and fitness. Regular exercise (weight lifting, yoga and karate) has not only helped me stay fit and healthy but it’s also made my mind stronger. I feel comfortable in my skin and embrace my quirks.
Additionally, I’ve developed my confidence over the years by channeling my inner sass and pushing myself out of my comfort zone. If you’re wondering what sass is, to me, it’s being self-assured, spirited, and strong – it’s the un-breakable confidence to live the life you’ve dreamed of and believing in yourself that you can achieve your dreams. The more you do this, you’ll see that things that you were apprehensive about are actually not a) that daunting once you’ve done it and b) you’ll develop a new skill you didn’t realize you had. All this builds your confidence because you realize that you can do things you’ve set your mind to do.
I also changed how I view failure – rather than viewing it as a negative thing, I think it’s a chance to learn. If something doesn’t go how it was meant to go, I think ‘well at least I tried it,’ and then I think what do I need to change before I try again? Failure just means you’re trying things and not staying stagnant. This change in attitude means you are happy to just go for things because it’s either going to turn out as a blessing or a lesson! Win, win.
Of course though, we can all have our days when our confidence dips. When you have these moments I recommend you write down all your positive qualities, things that you are proud of, what you bring to the table, and then refer to it when you feel your confidence slipping. Also, take a note out of Beyonce’s book and create your own Sasha fierce, a persona that you channel when you feel like your confidence is taking a dip. Works wonders…
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I came to the limelight on ITV’s Take Me Out, which is a dating show that’s really popular in the UK, since then I’ve been using my platform to talk about identity, representation, and staying motivated! I’ve written for the likes of The Independent, as well as appearing on BBC radio, Channel 4 to name a few!
I’m a firm believer that you can achieve your goals and dreams but at the same time, I do acknowledge we can all have a down day, which is exactly when we need someone to cheer us on. I was always the friend out of my friend group that would be the go-to when people needed cheering up, or some motivation, and that inspired me to publish The Little Book of Sass, featuring ‘sasspirational’ quotes to perk people up when they need it the most. On the back of this, I created my platform The School of Sass to educate women on the skills they need to stay motivated, positive, and live the life they’ve imagined by channeling their inner sass. I honestly just want everyone to feel good about themselves and not have any regrets!!
Further to this I’ve interviewed the likes of Maya Vander, Charithra Chandran, Diipa Khosla, Sydney Cummings as part of my radio show, The Sass Life, which aired on Rukus Avenue Radio. I have a new season which recently launched on Rukus Avenue Radio and iHeartRadio. The purpose of my show is to empower women to live their best lives and I have plenty more inspiring interviews lined up for the new season, which you can hear via iHeartRadio app, Monday’s at 9pm PST.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The three qualities that have been most impactful are being tenacious, not being afraid to try new things, and not being afraid of failure.
For those early in their journey, I would say they can develop these skills by changing how they view failure. Rather than viewing failure as a negative thing, view it as a chance to learn something new. Why? Well, if something doesn’t work out you will have learned something new about yourself and how you handled it. And by something not working you can identify what went wrong and then pivot and try again. Once you start to change your mindset around failure then you’ll happily try new things and ideas you have as you won’t be afraid of failure.
This in turn will make you more tenacious as you won’t be so quick to give up on things. You’ll keep trying until you achieve what you set out to achieve.
It’s also important to remember that rejection is redirection. Trust the universe and process and don’t give up just because something isn’t happening overnight. Good things take time.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
If you’re feeling overwhelmed then I would recommend you start by writing down all the things you have going on at the moment. Then highlight the items you need to get done first. From here, break the items down into smaller achievable goals. Be realistic and schedule them into your daily happenings – we all have things going on in our life, work, family commitments etc, so look at your schedule and see when you can add in the things you need to do. Then every morning create a Ta-da list and write out the things you’re planning on getting done for the day. As you do them, cross them off your list – this will make you feel good when you visually see what you’ve done.
I would also look at the list of things I have to do and cut out what I don’t need to do or can leave till a later date. Say no to things – remember there’s nothing wrong with not doing everything and saying no.
A guest on my show, The Sass Life, shared something that really stuck with me and it’s great for when you are feeling overwhelmed and have a lot on your plate. The idea is to evaluate what you are doing, if there’s something that isn’t bringing you joy, then remind yourself you can stop doing it. Just because you stop doing something it doesn’t mean you’ve quit, it just isn’t the right fit right now – you can always come back to it in the future.
Something else that can help when you feel overwhelmed it to go for a walk – fresh air will do you wonders and you’ll then feel refreshed to get through the ta-da list you’ve created!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://theschoolofsass.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschoolofsass
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MeeraSharmaOfficial/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MeeraSharm
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1368370758/goal-planner-printable-and-digital-pdf?click_key=ad951d5fc586ca819db4b5073c359e2b0c5a2102%3A1368370758&click_sum=42279921&ref=shop_home_active_1
Image Credits
Dallas Telle
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