Self-doubt is a nasty beast. It sneaks up on you when you’re least expecting it and can consume your thoughts until it feels like there’s no light left. Self-doubt is that feeling when you think “who am I to think I can do anything with my life?” or “who would want to read my blog, let alone take advice from me?”
You may also feel self-doubt when you think, “I’m not good enough to get that job, interview for that internship, or impress anyone with my resumé.” You probably know what it feels like to experience self-doubt in the moment, but now comes the hard part – understanding why this happens and how we can overcome it, so we don’t let it hold us back from our goals anymore.
Self doubt is described as being the lack of confidence in oneself and one’s abilities. It can also be defined as the feeling of uncertainty, concern or worry about one’s abilities. The root cause of these feelings could come down to feeling a lack of confidence or security.
It’s a perfectly natural feeling. It doesn’t need to be seen as being necessarily a negative experience. As self doubt can help us to grow as individuals, and allow us to be more aware of both our strengths and weaknesses.
Understanding Self Doubt
Self-doubt is the inability to trust yourself or your abilities. It can come in many different forms, but the most common types are:
- Fear of failure – The feeling that you’re going to somehow mess up, which will lead to disappointment in yourself.
- Impostor syndrome – The belief that you don’t deserve what you’ve accomplished, or are currently accomplishing. Because you’re somehow deceiving people into thinking you’re better than you actually are.
- Fear of success – The feeling that if you succeed in a certain area of your life. You’ll be expected to keep achieving that level of success, which you can’t keep up with.
- Fear of disapproval – The feeling that others are always right, and you’re always wrong.
- Narrowing – The feeling that you’re not able to move forward with your life because you’ve narrowed your options down to one path, so you can’t explore other options.
Why Do We Experience Self Doubt?
Self-doubt is a normal emotion to feel. But when it takes over and becomes excessive, it can be very destructive. It can be hard to overcome self doubt because it’s such an all-consuming feeling.
It’s easy to think about nothing else because it’s consuming your thoughts and making you feel terrible. We experience self-doubt when we are not comfortable with who we are and what we’re doing in life.
It’s no surprise that we aren’t confident in ourselves when we’re unhappy with our lives and feeling like we’re stuck in a rut. It’s important to know that feeling self-doubt doesn’t mean that you’re a bad person. Or that there’s something wrong with you. It’s a normal human feeling that everyone goes through, but it’s how we deal with it that matters.
How To Tackle Your Feelings of Self-Doubt?
Accept Self Doubt
Self doubt can affect all areas of our life, from personal relationships to our career. When we think about what we have to offer, it becomes a cycle of destructive thinking that leads us down an even more uncertain path. We must be mindful and accept the feelings of self doubt, because it is just a feeling – it’s not permanent.
Take Care Of Yourself
Start by understanding self-doubt and how it impacts you creatively. Determine what triggers your self doubt, and then arm yourself with an action plan for dealing with it when it strikes. Be gentle with yourself; you’re doing the best you can.
Give Yourself Credit
The best way to overcome a feeling of self-doubt is to give yourself credit for what you have done so far. If you are just starting, then you can’t expect too much from yourself. Give yourself some time, and work hard on your goals, and soon enough you will have accomplished more than you ever thought possible.
Find Your Passion
One of the best ways to overcome self-doubt is to figure out what you love to do and what makes you happy. When you’re passionate about what you do, it’s easy to feel confident in yourself and let that voice of self-doubt be silenced.
It’s hard to beat yourself up when you’re happy and excited about your future. Make sure you take the time to really think about what you love to do and what you’re good at.
Challenge Negative Thoughts With Positive Thoughts
When you catch yourself feeling down, try challenging your negative thoughts with positive thoughts. Instead of telling yourself how terrible you are, tell yourself that you can do better next time, or that you can find a way to make things better. It’s all in our mindset, and this can really help to drive away the negative thoughts.
Seek Support When Struggling
You might think self-doubt is only a problem for those who are insecure or lack confidence. But it’s actually a common feeling that many people experience at one time or another.
It’s important to try and work through and get past, rather than letting it control you, but if you find that your feelings of self-doubt are impacting your life, it’d be a good idea to reach out to your doctor for extra help in overcoming those feelings.
Self-doubt is a normal emotion to feel, and it’s something that nearly everyone experiences at some point in their lives. It’s important to know that it’s temporary.
You can overcome it if you focus on positivity and what you can do from here. Once you get to grips with the reasons why you’re experiencing self-doubt and learn to deal with it, it will be much easier to overcome it and move on with your life.
Hi! My name is Gemma, and welcome to Miss Makeup Magpie. I share helpful articles to help you with beauty tips, tricks and tutorials.
