I am a Cheerleader.

I have been reading a lot about how one of the key factors in in becoming who you want to become is to first and foremost think and behave like the person you want to become, as if you are already that person. This seems like a huge step to take for someone who wants to be rich but doesn't even have enough money to go grocery shopping. Or hard for an insecure person to begin acting as if they were the confidant outgoing person they wish to become. There are many different things I wish to achieve that are not yet in my reality and I have been struggling with adopting this tool into my life. I wanted a little inspiration in the form of an example that could inspire me.
I then thought of my freshman year of high school. Cheerleading try-outs were coming up and I wanted nothing more than to be on the cheerleading squad. I had cheered for two years prior but not for a high school team; this was the big leagues! In order to make the team we had to learn a routine and perform it with a partner. This required practice with the Varsity squad everyday up until the day of the try-outs. Now, I wasn't the best dancer in the world, or the most coordinated, or even the best at stunts, so I was really worried about making the team. However, I did have one thing going for me, and I believe this may have been the ultimate reason for my ticket onto the team: I believed I was a cheerleader. This was long before I learned about the Law of Attraction and long before I started applying the rules to my life like I do today, so this was just a teenage girl using the Law without even realizing. You see, I really felt like I belonged on that team. When I thought about what high school was going to be like, I could only imagine it through the eyes of a cheerleader. I imagined going to practice everyday after school, how fun it would be, how great it would be to dance everyday and learn more complex stunts. I loved the schools cheer uniforms and I could see myself walking through the halls in the uniform. In addition to this, all my friends were going out for the squad. All my friends were prior cheerleaders and the best of the best. So I knew they were going to make the squad, there was no doubt about that, for many reasons, but the most logical being that probably 90% of the girls going out for the team were my good friends. So not only did I want to be on the team, but I identified myself as one of these girls, a cheerleader. I am a cheerleader. I already felt like one. I was already hanging out with the girls who were inevitably going to make the team. I was already talking about the games and how fun it would be to ride on the bus with the football team. I was already planning who to bunk with at cheer camp. In my mind, I already was a high school cheerleader.
Well, I did make the squad. I was overwhelmed with excitement and relief. I got to stay with my friends. I got to wear the uniform, I got to go to all the games, I got to dance everyday. I couldn't have been happier. Looking back, do I give credit to the fact that I must have been a top notch dancer? No way. I was good at best, but no better than a lot of the girls that didn't make it. It didn't have anything to do with my ability to learn moves quickly, I was usually one of the last girls to get the moves down. Looking back, I give the most credit to my self imposed identity. I really and truly felt like a cheerleader. I remember thinking "how in the world could anyone NOT want to be a cheerleader??". I remember thinking "I can't believe every single girl in the Freshman class is not trying out for the squad!" Thats how much I loved it. And thats how much I wanted it. But what got me on the squad was that there wasn't a part of me that felt like I wasn't a cheerleader. Even though I had self-doubt about my abilities, and even though I would go to bed fearing that I wouldn't make the team and then drift away from all my friends, having that firm, strong, unwavering identity (that I wasn't even aware of at the time) that a cheer leader was who I was, was enough to make my future reality coincide with my belief and I made the squad. I was so happy. A wave of relief came over me because I knew I wasn't the best and I knew that something else was at work. And now I know what it was.
So in remembering this story from my past, I have a firm example that I can use for myself in how to behave 'as if I already have it', whatever the 'it' may be. I invite you to think of a time in your past where you got something you wanted because you already were living like you had it, even if you didn't realize it at the time. This will be pivotal in learning to master such a cool skill for manifestation.