David Stidston
Bio
My name is David Stidston, and I am a single father to my 8-year-old daughter Mia. We live in the beautiful city of Hobart in Tasmania, Australia. I am currently self-employed, working as a freelancer and casually in market research.
Stories (216)
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A Leap Of Faith
Have you ever had the courage to take a leap of faith? Maybe you're not even sure what I am talking about here, assuming that I am perhaps referring to some sort of religious act, or something along similar lines. For those who may not know what the phrase "leap of faith" even means, it's defined as "an act of believing in, or attempting something, whose existence or outcome cannot be proved or known". Even the definition may still not give you the clarity and understanding around exactly what it refers to. A leap of faith is basically when we make the decision to proceed with an opportunity, despite the odds, in the belief that we can achieve success or benefit from it. That belief can come from self-belief, through trusting in our own skill and ability. It can perhaps come from placing our trust in someone else's advice, or their support. It can come from having a "nothing to lose" attitude. It can come from desperation for change. It can come from sheer drive and determination to achieve a desired result. One thing that's for sure, a leap of faith is just another way of saying "taking a risk". Whether it's something significant and life changing, that's on the line, or perhaps something with less importance, either way, we are taking an element of risk. The first thing to focus on, when we talk about taking a leap of faith, is what the reward is, what that goal is that we are actually taking a risk for. Are we taking a leap of faith for something significant? Are we taking a leap of faith to better our lives, and enhance our future?
By David Stidston5 years ago in Motivation
Get Better
Have you ever been in a situation where someone perhaps criticized you, or maybe unfairly labelled you, verbally abused you, or basically provoked you in some way? A time where you have entered into an argument or disagreement? I think we all have, quite often in fact. There's so many people in this world who love to take their frustrations and anger that they are experiencing in their own life, out on others. That constant build up of stress, anxiety, pressure, and expectations, courtesy of the fast paced and demanding world we live in, quite often takes its toll on most people. It's made worse by the fact that happiness, satisfaction, fulfillment, and goals accomplishment, is continually absent in their life. The truth is, they are to blame for their own unhappiness and failures, as a result of their inability to change, and take action, but they don't see it that way. They like to shift blame on external things, including other people. That's a story for another day though. When you're in one of these moments in which you're being criticized, labelled, ridiculed, verbally abused, provoked, and argued against, how often does your blood boil to the point where you just can't stay tight lipped no longer, and you react in fury? You simply refuse to idly sit by and listen to others having the freedom to be criticizing and verbally abusing you, so you stand up, defend yourself, and you fire some criticism and verbal abuse back at them. Such is the anger and frustration that they have fueled within you, you don't hold back with words, and you start bringing up past things perhaps, or you start getting personal, or you start becoming downright nasty yourself. You feel this release of tension and anger within you, that perhaps has also been building up from circumstances you're perhaps going through, so it feels good in the moment. Even in the days following the argument or disagreement, the vision of that moment swirls in your head, and you continually think about all the things you should have said instead, maybe to inflict more emotional pain back on them? Then as more time passes by, you continue reflecting back on that moment, and you start to realize how immature you actually were, how poorly you reacted, how you allowed someone to provoke you so easily, and how you ended up lowering your colors.
By David Stidston5 years ago in Motivation
Love What You Do
The average life expectancy of a human being currently sits at around 79 years. Some of us are blessed with more days, whilst others aren't so blessed, and pass away earlier. Around 80% of people on average worldwide, at least go on to live to the age of 65, which we know to be the age of retirement here in Australia. So we have around an 80% chance of seeing out our working life at least, which are pretty good odds, made even better if we actually live our life maintaining a healthy diet and exercising regularly. So whilst we talk of statistics, it's then worth noting that around 80% of us will spend around 90,000 hours of our life working. Over the 79 years of our average life expectancy, that only equates to just 13% of our life, but when we take out 18 years of education, and the 14 years of retirement, that percentage jumps up to around 22%. Now all of a sudden we are talking about nearly 1/4 of our life being spent, during this time, at work. Let's go further again. We will factor in the average of around 6.5 hours sleep that adults have during this period, which will then take the total of our awake time to 30% spent at work. We could also factor in the amount of overtime we apply ourselves to, plus the number of hours we spend commuting, and all of a sudden we are nudging one third of our awake time, between the ages of 18 and 65, that we physically spend at work, or getting to and from work. That's quite a daunting thought really, made even worse for those who hate their job, or the work they do. Even that statistic is alarming, with nearly 9 out every 10 people worldwide, who work a job or business that they don't even like or enjoy. When we do something we don't enjoy, or we hate doing, naturally we are unhappy and dissatisfied. So if we summarize all this information above, that I have reeled off, basically, nearly 90% of people are going to spend one third of their life, between the ages of 18 and 65, unhappy and dissatisfied. It doesn't make for good reading, does it? It certainly doesn't make for a very rewarding and fulfilling life either. It's not that I'm just throwing up random statistics either, this is fact and reality.
By David Stidston5 years ago in Motivation
The Need For No
As a regular reader of my blogs, quite often you will note that I give the recommendation that we should always be seeking to help, support, uplift, motivate, inspire, and encourage others. When we are proactive in encouraging and supporting others, to pursue their goals, and be striving for happiness, exactly as we desire for ourselves, along with having the generosity to help those in need, it brings a whole new level of satisfaction and fulfillment to our lives, as we are privileged to observe the positive impact we can actually have in the world. Helping others is something I, and many other motivational speakers, life coaches, and successful individuals worldwide, will always encourage. One thing we will discourage though, is when we go about pleasing others. You may be scratching your head, questioning if there is even any difference between helping others and pleasing others, or perhaps wondering why we should be discouraged from pleasing others? Let me first try and clarify the difference between the two. Helping others I could best define as doing an act of kindness towards other people. The beauty of helping others is there are no limitations. We are not restricted to only helping people that we know, it could be a random act of kindness towards a stranger. This kindness and help may come via generosity in giving financially, without the expectation of those funds being returned, such as a donation, giving money to a homeless person, or even to someone you personally know who is doing it tough financially. It may come in the form of volunteer work, sacrificing one's own time, in order to be helping out local community associations, sporting clubs, welfare groups, and the like. It may be about genuinely being there for someone who is going through an extremely difficult time in their life, by regularly visiting them, checking on them, offering to assist in any way, and showing them heartfelt support and compassion. It could be as little as being that support person who is there to continually encourage, motivate, and be that vital source of positivity towards someone, who is on the journey towards achieving their goals. It could be helping an elderly neighbor out, by cooking some meals for them, or assisting them by doing the gardening or lawnmowing. Helping out others is not about doing all the work for them, it's about relieving the burden on them, and showing them that they have someone there who genuinely cares for them and their welfare, and has genuine compassion for them. The best form of helping others comes from spontaneity, and not waiting until someone asks for help, through being proactive in identifying their struggles, and assisting them accordingly. Helping others is about kindness, care, compassion, and generosity from the heart, without any expectation of anything in return.
By David Stidston5 years ago in Motivation
Taking Responsibility
I'm not going to deny the fact that one of my pet peeves in life is when people refuse to take responsibility for their decisions and actions. It's these same group of people who will never admit to being wrong, or never accept that they have made a mistake or error. Even when there is overwhelming evidence against them, proving that they were indeed at fault or in the wrong, they still claim innocence. When they are completely cornered into being guilty, they then resort to passing the blame on someone, or something, else. You will find a lot of the time that these same people also become very agitated and irritable when they are proven wrong. They become very defensive and often try to deflect the conversation around back on us, reeling off a list of all our faults and flaws, and even getting quite personal about it all. The concerning aspect to all of this is the extraordinarily high number of people in the world that are in fact this type of individual. I think at some, even many, times in our life, we have been guilty of proclaiming innocence from a mistake or error, that we know we indeed did make, yet we are too proud to admit it. I'm certainly no saint, and I'll admit that I have done it before, so it does make me sound a little hypocritical perhaps, but over these past few years, I have made a concerted effort to change my behavior with it. Probably for the fact that I've changed myself to begin taking responsibility, and have now become accountable, for my mistakes and errors, witnessing others not doing the same is probably a reason why it has become one of my pet peeves.
By David Stidston5 years ago in Motivation
Meditate To Become Great
Personally, I have never seen the benefits or reasoning behind meditation. Sitting there with legs bent, feet touching one another, eyes closed, along with palms facing upwards and resting on one's knees, all whilst sitting there in silence and solitude, was never something I ever considered doing. I was always happy just to pause for a moment, and have some quiet time to myself, maybe just browsing through my phone, or listening to music, rather than doing the meditation stuff. Plus, I always had to be doing something, as I was never one to just sit still. That was how I spent my time away from the world, and all the dramas of life. Last week, however, I tried meditation for the first time, as it was highly recommended to me by someone successful and professional, to assist with my personal development, my mindset, my thought process, my awareness, and my behavior. Even though it always looked a strange practice to me, I knew it was something I needed to actually try for myself, and overcome that discomfort, as I continually want to better myself as an individual. Even just a week of trialing it, I have already found it to be extremely powerful and beneficial, and have certainly changed my opinion towards it. Like I had previously felt, there are undoubtedly many people worldwide who would see meditation as a bit of a waste of time, something that wouldn't be in any way helpful or beneficial, something that wouldn't yield results, and something that is just a little weird and uncomfortable to do personally. In fact, a lot of people would simply state that they barely even have time to scratch their nose, let alone spend 10 minutes of their day meditating.
By David Stidston5 years ago in Longevity
Your Main Competition
Personally, I've always been a very competitive individual. From the social basketball games I once played throughout my childhood and early twenties, to playing board games with the family, I always wanted to win. Let's be honest though, no one likes losing in anything. We know that winning always brings a hell of a lot more enjoyment and satisfaction. Despite my constant hunger to win, especially in the basketball and ten pin bowling competitions I played in, I was always gracious in defeat also, acknowledging that my opponent was just too good on the day. There would be many a time where I believed I tried my absolute hardest, yet was outplayed, so I walked away feeling content with my performance. Then there were times where I would shake hands graciously with my opponent, yet walk away feeling extremely frustrated and disappointed, because I believed I had underperformed, underachieved, and was well below my best. It's not that I wasn't trying, or that I couldn't be bothered, I just failed to execute effectively on the day. I know myself, and many others, we are all quick to judge professional athletes and sportspeople, when our team or the individual whom we are barracking for, ends up losing or underperforming. We seem to forget that despite the fact they are professionals within the sport that they play, they are also human. Even the most accomplished humans in the world have days where they fail to reach the heights they are capable of. It's just a simple fact that we can't be at our very best every day of our life, but having said that, we can at least spend every day always striving to be at our very best though.
By David Stidston5 years ago in Motivation
I Don't Believe It
It's no surprise that envy is classed as one of the seven deadly sins. It's a destructive characteristic that steers people away from appreciating what they already do have, to being greedy and desperate in constantly wanting more and more in life, and forever being jealous of what others possess. Whilst social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, have all become the perfect platform for businesses to advertise their products and services on, it's also become the perfect platform for individuals and couples alike, to advertise their life on also. Unlike the fact that businesses have to pay to advertise, individuals get to do it for free, selling themselves to the world at no cost. It's the ideal outlet in which people love to inflate their ego, and achieve the satisfaction that comes with gaining numerous likes, shares, and comments, from all the photos and posts they submit to their profile wall. Perhaps many people do so because they lack self-respect and self-appreciation, and they need this injection of recognition and acknowledgement from others, in order to feel better about themselves. Perhaps they genuinely believe that no one cares for them, that they aren't liked, and they aren't accepted. Perhaps they do so purely out of seeking attention to themselves. In fact, this last reason is one of the main reasons why so many people love to jump on their social media accounts several times throughout the day, to post photos and comments. Because they want attention! Many of these attention seekers sit facing their mobile phone or their computer screen, suffering behind the scenes. Their life is filled with unhappiness, misery, failure, hurt, rejection, dissatisfaction, and sadness, but looking at their profile, you wouldn't guess that to be the case in a million years.
By David Stidston5 years ago in Motivation
Are You Actually Focused On What You Do Want?
Today's blog entry once again comes off the back of having watched a short video on Facebook, this time by motivational speaker Rob Dial. It revolved around our thought patterns and what we actually choose to focus on, which ultimately then dictates our mood, our emotions, our behavior, and even our decision making. Now it may seem like this is yet another blog entry about the same old, same old, that I normally speak about, regarding our mindset and positive thinking, which is vitally important as it is let me add, but this message is slightly different. The message that Rob delivered actually got me thinking about my own personal mindset, and what I have been allowing myself to think about, which has ultimately been the contributing factor to why I often feel so stressed, frustrated, depressed, and anxious .The message is all summed up in just question, that being "are you actually focused on what you do want to happen in your life, or what you don't want to happen?" When you actually pause for a moment to think about all the thoughts that run through your head throughout the day, and then marry them up to the emotions you feel, or even the way in which you react to them, quite often it's as a result of negative forward thinking. Now what I mean by that is we have, for so long, allowed our minds to focus on potential outcomes in the future, but the downside to this is that we focus on what we don't want to happen rather than what we do. It's just typical human nature that we always focus on the negatives in life, and we do so because the negatives have the potential to impact on our survival and the way in which we live, but this negative way of thinking is also what often leads us to creating those exact results we don't want.
By David Stidston5 years ago in Motivation
Get Excited
From the perspective of a person suffering depression, such as myself, there are many days and moments in which it feels impossible to believe that the future can in any way be exciting, and filled with great success and happiness. Depression is usually triggered by a series of circumstances and events in which we continually experience hurt, sadness, emotional pain, unhappiness, failure, and/or dissatisfaction. There quite often is one primary cause behind what leads us into depression, but that unhappiness becomes compounded as we continue to focus on the negatives in other aspects of our life also. It literally feels like everything is against us, that no one truly cares about us, and that there is nothing worthwhile to get out of bed for each morning. Life is just not in any way enjoyable or pleasurable. What's worse is, we just can't see any sunshine on the horizon, no hope or promise that our circumstances are going to improve. The future seems grim. It's like we are boxed up and unable to do anything about it either. We feel trapped, so we sit tight and wait in hope, for life to finally relieve us of all the pressure and pain, so we can then rediscover happiness once again. Sadly, all we seem to encounter are further issues and pain though. Those with depression may relate to this when I say that every time it feels like we are getting back on track mentally, and we are trying to uplift ourselves, something else always tends to go wrong, and we end up back at square one, all depressed and miserable again. We are frustrated that those without depression, or any other mental illness, cannot understand our thoughts, feelings, emotions, suffering, and pain that we are going through, often treated by them like we are just weak, that we are just making excuses, and we are attention seekers, when that's so far from the truth.
By David Stidston5 years ago in Motivation
Destructive Addiction
One particular friend I have, has a regular habit of hopping on Facebook and liking the inspirational and motivational photo quotes that I post my profile each day. He's been battling with depression, and was very appreciative of some of the messages I would post to help him think positive, focus on his happiness, and improve his mindset. Over the past week or so though, I noticed that he had stopped doing so, plus I also noticed that he stopped posting anything on his own profile also, so I became a little concerned. I took the opportunity to direct message him, just to check in on him and make sure he was okay. Thankfully, all was good with him, and he's actually away enjoying himself on a holiday, which is great news. He did mention to me though, that he had indeed stopped posting content, and liking my quotes, because he has taken it upon himself to withdraw from engaging in social media, in a bid to protect his mental health. He had been the subject of constant judgement, criticism, and harassment, from many of his so called friends and associates, whilst also being tired with the lack of support, care, compassion, and understanding, of his current health situation. Upon hearing this, I could totally resonate with what he was saying. I, myself, once posted opinions, beliefs, views, and personal feelings on my Facebook profile, and I too, would get criticized, judged, and harassed, also by my friends and even family members. A couple of years ago, I realized just how toxic social media really can be. Whilst everybody is entitled to an opinion, and also entitled to share it on social media, no one has the right to criticize, belittle, harass, bully, and demean, anyone else for their opinion, whether it may be right or wrong! It's why I made the decision to not post opinions, beliefs, or even anything with no substance or purpose, any longer, and instead, I have just been sharing uplifting and beneficial quotes.
By David Stidston5 years ago in Psyche
Before You Get Married
My blog entries are always based around two outlets of information. The first being what I have learnt from the likes of other motivational speakers and personal development training courses, whilst the second outlet of information is based on personal experience. Both are equally important in being able to help, motivate, and support, others in their respective journeys in life, whilst assisting them to better control their mindset, emotional control, and thought process. I make it a daily priority to engage in personal development, which includes watching short motivational videos, and lately I have come across so many clips in which I have resonated with, because I have experienced those emotions, feelings, thoughts, and circumstances, that were portrayed in the scenes by the various actors and actresses. What I talk about today is a very sensitive issue for me, because it revolves around what has been the driving factor behind the adversity and depression I have been dealing with, over these past couple of months. Irrespective of the emotions and feelings I am dealing with currently, I believe today's topic is so important for people to absorb the information, plus gain a bit more understanding into dealing with the mental side of relationships and marriage. This one particular short video I watched the other day indeed revolved around weddings and marriage, and it had me thinking about the high number of people who marry for the wrong reasons, or at least do so without a decent comprehension of what marriage is all about.
By David Stidston5 years ago in Humans
