Well, this is timely. The February #blogamonth topic is about doubting yourself or not believing in yourself. I happen to be on the horizon of accomplishing something new and different from anything that I have done before. Why do we doubt ourselves and what can we do to believe in ourselves?
Above, I write the word "accomplishing". At the end of the day, each and every one of us knows that we have the power to accomplish our goals. When I start doubting myself, I remind myself of the hours and hours that I have put into achieving something. This comforts me.
In a previous #blogamonth post, one blogger wrote that social media can make us doubt ourselves. We see so many others posting their successes and their achievements. We start to measure ourselves and become convinced that we are not as worthy. This is when we have to remind ourselves that social media does not tell the whole story nor does it necessarily spell out someone's goals. Those that we compare ourselves to may actually have very different goals from our own. This matters and sometimes we forget that. Often times what we choose to share is driven by our goals.
It is human nature to doubt ourselves. I appreciate that we are reflecting on this topic during the winter Olympics. The stories of the athletes is enough to remind us that we can gain so much from not coming in first place. We can work hard to come out stronger and better. It is all about transformative growth. Worst case scenario: We fail. From failure comes learning. From learning comes success.
I also believe in the power of process. Many of us find comfort in ritual or process. When staring something scary in the face, doing the work and going through an arduous process can give us layers of comfort, armor, and confidence. When feeling vulnerable on the edge of tackling something new, I think about things that I knew nothing about once upon a time and later became an expert on that very thing. We cannot underestimate the impact of positive self talk. It reminds us of our own power to control our outcomes.
