Question for this week:
Did it not work out because you didn’t do enough or you thought you were not enough?
Oftentimes, we find ourselves thinking whether or not we are enough. That’s a common thing to do. But as a saying goes, “it may be common but not right.” Self-doubt is one of the biggest enemies you’ll face in your life and that enemy originates inside you. You are enough. That thought mustn’t change.
Self doubt can lead to negative overthinking, random outbursts of negativity, depression, loneliness and may even damage your health, if overdone. You are enough and we can’t stress this enough. You are great and we are glad you exist with us as co-people on this planet.
Here, we have a few tips from our experience to help you overcome self-doubt and negative thoughts about yourself:
1. Reassure yourself that the negative thoughts you’re having aren’t real, and they’re just stemming from a phase of self doubt.
2. Write down all the negative thoughts you have about yourself and think of a positive alternative for each one of them, and repeat those instead.
3. Try to think of things that you like about yourself, and say those to yourself instead of thinking about the not-so-good things going through your mind.
4. Whenever you have bad thoughts, try to just let them pass, as if they’re cars driving past and you’re watching from the roadside, instead of overthinking about them and wasting your precious energy.
5. Realise that you’re not the only one who has such thoughts. All of us face self-doubt from time to time, and what matters, then, is how we react to it. Should we believe the negative thoughts? Not at all. We should, albeit slowly and gradually, try to eliminate such thoughts from our mind and make space for good thoughts about ourselves and others too.
6. Don’t expect sudden progress or success in this regard. Self-doubt goes away gradually if you try and replace each negative thought with a positive one.
7. A great method that works is making use of affirmations, which are positive statements you repeat to yourself and “trick” your brain into believing. You may make your own affirmations that align with your growth, like “I am enough, and I belong”, “I will not let others dictate my worth”, etc.
8. Remember, “What you starve will die, what you feed will grow.” So ignoring the negative thoughts and reiterating positive ones that make you feel good is, in our opinion, a good way to deal with phases of self doubt.
You can, however, question yourself whether you’re doing enough or not. That’s a healthy and right thing to do as it helps you do better when you realise you’re doing less than you could.
Note: This question is created by JHS (@thewisewritings) on Instagram
Thank you so much for reading this blogpost! We hope you gained something out of it : )
The original featured image used in this blogpost is by Sage Friedman on Unsplash.
You can DM us on our Instagram account @jhs.ay.write, or email us at ayjhswrite@gmail.com if you have any suggestions or feedbacks. See you all next week with a new blogpost! Till then, stay safe and healthy.
–JHS and AY
JHS and AY Write 