Stop trying to banish your self-doubt.
Stop wishing you didn’t have it.
Stop shaming yourself for feeling it.
Why? You’re wasting energy.
You know what I’m saying is true because no matter your achievements or outward success, whoops, that self-doubt snakes its way back. Somehow it’s still there.
Let’s try something else instead.
Let’s learn from it.
Because your self-doubt is a signal.
In fact, every feeling you have is a flare: a little lighthouse to an area of your life that you need to tend to. Like a garden, your foundation must be healthy or you won’t grow.
Don’t wait till your flowers are shriveled to figure out what’s wrong.
But unfortunately, most of us do.
It often takes a crisis – internal or external – to wake us up to the ongoing work required to feel whole. Well. Worthy.
Ask yourself this:
- Why do I not trust myself? What and/or who is contributing to this lack of self-trust?
- When are times that I have felt self-trust, no matter how minimal? What do I need to cultivate more of that? How can I reasonably integrate a daily practice of it?
Yep, DAILY.
Because at this point, you’re probably more familiar with what it feels like to doubt than trust yourself.
And so to reacquaint yourself with this version of yourself, it’s best to do something small at a higher frequency.
This needs to be very specific to you. Here’s what works for me:
- An alter to my childhood self. A small picture of me as a little kid and every morning I promise to honor her.
- Coaching others on a regular basis. That’s a big reason I started the podcast – it helps me trust myself in my craft just as much as I hope it helps and inspires you!
- Writing a screenplay. Activating my imagination and doing something simply for enjoyment keeps me in a healthy headspace.
A great starter exercise is to reflect on an experience you’ve had that made you feel really friggin’ proud of yourself.
It doesn’t matter how long ago it was or if it wasn’t “impressive.” You had feelings of self-trust and that matters.
Write it out and every day, spend a few minutes meditating on it. Reliving it. Embodying it.
Here’s why this works: Trust comes with consistency.
You need to consistently witness yourself stepping into your self-trust to believe you’re capable of it.
That’s why self-care as the antidote to self-trust doesn’t work. Or why relying on wishes or willpower doesn’t last.
If you take away one thing from this week’s newsletter, let it be this:
Action > affirmations
The good news is, you’ve already taken action. You’re here. That counts. You count. No matter what.
In your corner, now and always 💪
x Claire
PS Let me know if this resonates by commenting on this post. Or if you’re more comfortable, simply press reply. I always love hearing from you 🙂
