I was talking to my fiance recently about self-doubt – specifically mine.

For most of my life I’ve suffered from chronic self-doubt, which has held me back and stopped me doing loads of things – I’ve turned down invitations to cool events because I’d be going by myself, didn’t take an ecology paper at university because I didn’t think I could do the maths requirement, and I put off walking the length of New Zealand for three years because I didn’t think I was good enough.

My fiance said he thought I’d never be able to overcome it, that it’s part of me and will always be there.

In some ways he is right.

It is a deep-seated habit that has developed from believing the “not good enough” story I constantly told myself and it’s easy for these old habits to pop up when I’m about to step outside my comfort zone.

Self-doubt is common and everyone will experience it at some point in their lives. It’s part of being human.

BUT…

There is NO truth to the self-doubt thoughts we tell ourselves.
 
That’s because they come from a part of us that’s wanting to keep us safe and in our comfort zone. Those self-doubt thoughts aren’t based on any facts. They don’t define you as a person or inform you of how capable or amazing you actually are.
 
But here is the thing – you can’t control your thoughts. They come and go like the weather.
 
It’s for this reason that my fiance is right – I will never “overcome” my self-doubt. I can’t just click my fingers and stop having self-doubt thoughts because it doesn’t work that way.
 
BUT…
 
The good news is I can master my self-doubt.
 
💖 I can let it have less of an impact on my life. I can feel it and yet not let it hold me back.
 
💖 I can do this by recognising what it is (ie not the truth) and by not being sucked in by it and believing it to be true (when it’s not).
 
💖 I can know that that self-doubt thought does not define or place limits on my innate infinite potential and awesomeness and it does not conclude of decide what actually is and isn’t possible.
 
💖 And I can know that that thought doesn’t have to hold me back and that actually I can take action and achieve anything in spite of feeling that I’m not good enough.
 
So while I will always have thoughts that I can’t do something or that I’m not good enough, the more I take action in spite of what I’m feeling the quieter those self-doubt voices will become.
 
It’s not overcoming it but it is mastering it.
 
And it is possible.
 
It’s how I was able to take on the Te Araroa Trail in New Zealand. It’s how after injuring my knee I was able to return six months later to attempt to finish it. It’s how I was able to jump on a boat and spend
three and a half months sailing around the coast of Great Britain when I had no sailing experience.
 
Things are possible.
 
You are not your self-doubt.
 
#ownyourawesome

PS – Is self-doubt getting you down, holding you back and keeping you stuck? Want to know how to master it to find your purpose, your freedom, and yourself as well as achieve your goals and dreams? Get in touch. Let’s have a chat.