While chatting with one of the members of my #GOALdiggers Facebook group the other day she asked me how I managed to stay so positive. Despite the fact that her blog was having one of the best traffic months ever, she was a little down because she hadn’t heard back from some publications she’d pitched article ideas to.

I totally understood her frustration. Being a writer can sometime wreak havoc on your self-confidence, especially when you’re trying to catch an editor’s eye. But I reminded her to focus on the positives: her blog was booming, and while it’s always nice to get published in other venues, building your own thing is where your power truly lies.

But her question to me, “How do you always stay so positive,” was a valid one.

Truth is, I’m not.

Despite encouraging others to look for the silver lining in every dark cloud, sometimes I just can’t do it.

I get into my emo moments. I feel sorry for myself. I shed a few tears, and yes, I even mope.

Those moments are usually products of stress, fear and self-doubt, and I try to block them out, but sometimes, I can’t.

In those moments, however, I do a few things to snap out of it: I talk to God (literally like he’s sitting across from me, no genuflecting involved), I listen to music, and I find inspiration…everywhere.

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you may notice that I share inspirational quotes, images, and songs all the time, so I thought that I’d compile a little list of the ones that really get me through.

So in case you’re in need of a little pick-me-up and a shot to your self-confidence (or determination), here are 10 quotes that can get you through just about anything.

On loving myself first:

“I am a feminist, and what that means to me is much the same as the meaning of the fact that I am Black: it means that I must undertake to love myself and to respect myself as though my very life depends upon self-love and self-respect.” – June Jordan

When I need some perspective on letting go & letting God handle it:

“According to Vedanta, there are only two symptoms of enlightenment, just two indications that a transformation is taking place within you toward a higher consciousness. The first symptom is that you stop worrying. Things don’t bother you anymore. You become light-hearted and full of joy. The second symptom is that you encounter more and more meaningful coincidences in your life, more and more synchronicities. And this accelerates to the point where you actually experience the miraculous.” ― Deepak Chopra

On what I’m looking for in a man:

“I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naive or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman.” – Anais Nin

When I need a reminder to just LIVE:

“Every year I live I am more convinced that the waste of life lies in the love we have not given, the powers we have not used, the selfish prudence that will risk nothing, and which shirking pain, misses happiness as well. No one ever yet was the poorer in the long run for having once in a lifetime “let out all the length of all the reins.”–Mary Cholomondeley

When I need to get my mind right:

“Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steppingstone to greatness.” – Oprah Winfrey

A reminder to stop trying to be perfect:

“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won’t have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren’t even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they’re doing it.” – Anne Lamott

When I need to figure out what’s really stopping me:

“What keeps us from achieving our heart’s desires is not anything outside of us, it’s the conflict inside.” – Iyanla Vanzant

When I get weighed down by self-doubt:

“A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it.” – Alexandre Dumas

A reminder that worrying is worthless:

“Worry is a misuse of imagination.”  ~Dan Zadra

On building an attitude of gratitude:

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” -Oprah Winfrey

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What are some of your favorite quotes? Please leave a comment and let me know what words get you through the rough times. 

*Want to connect with a supportive group of go-getters? Meet us over in the #GOALdiggers Facebook group!