Do you sometimes ask yourself if you are deserving of your success? Do you lack confidence in yourself—even though you have received numerous achievements in your career or in your studies? Are you affected by peer pressure to such a degree that you are afraid you might be left behind? These are common inner criticisms that we often tell ourselves when we are in doubt. Inner criticisms have the power to evaporate our self-confidence. It has the power to demotivate us. It even has the power to kill our mental strengths. It is like Covid-19 that we just want to get rid of it.
Some people may think that when we reach the productive stage of our career, when we have this house, when we have X amount of money in our bank account, then all self-doubt will have disappeared and we would be able to achieve absolute self-confidence. However, the truth is that self-doubt is here to stay... it is part of life.
Self-doubt is not good or even bad... it is just a constant state of our mind. It is just like darkness and lights, happiness and sadness, death and life, inner critics and self-confidence…If you are confident at some moments, you may be in doubt at other times. It is like you are happy at one moment but at another moment you're sad...
Next time when you hear from your inner critics, interrupt them, tell yourself, “I know I am hearing from my inner critics, I know I am not perfect but I am growing...and if you pay close attention, you may hear those inner critics or those self-doubts fade away.
Are we doubtful about ourselves? Yes. It is a necessary part of personal growth.
When you are in doubt, it is a sign that you are getting out of your comfort zone. Lan Anh Nguyen.