Self-doubt can cause crippling anxiety and a lack of belief in yourself. It can make you second guess your actions and keep you in your comfort zone, afraid that your wings shall melt if you soar too close to the sun. There are many reasons why you don’t believe enough in yourself. It could be your inner critic talking like the adults you grew up listening to, it could be some trauma or embarrassment you faced growing up with your abilities to do something, it could hold metaphysical blocks in your spiritual body orrrrrrr, it could be a culmination of all of the above.
Our inner voice learns from how others talk to us, but we can train it to talk to us the way we want to be talked to. People have things going on, everybody has some kind of trauma or pain going through in the ebbs and flows of life. Maybe they are resentful, because they never had someone talk kindly to them, so they want to hurt you in return. Hurt people hurt people. It’s not your fault that they never saw the potential in you and said you’re average at best, or you won’t amount to anything or that you are a waste of space. Their perception of you is not your reality. Rewire your brain. Talk to yourself, say kind words, be nice to yourself, believe in yourself. And watch how your inner critic changes to an inner cheerleader that pushes you to do your best and believe in yourself. I always say, I am not here to change the world, but to change just one person, and that person is me. I decide what I want and don’t want as part of my beliefs. The rest- your parents, siblings, teachers, classmates, friends whoever, whatever they maybe, if they don’t align with your positive thinking, then they are just white noise. Ignore them like they ignore your potential and watch yourself bloom despite them.
Or maybe it is that you are a brilliant person and you have a supportive community around you. But you cringe at the time when you tried to be outspoken and was made fun of. That instilled a fear of public speaking or even reaching out to people out of sheer embarrassment. Now, every time you are asked to put yourself out there, you have limiting beliefs because of some irrelevant incident that happened in your formative years. I know it’s not irrelevant to you, but it is in the grand scheme of things. No one cares to remember how you looked like a fool trying to make friends that day or trying to be wannabe cool person, or even a pick me. It may be a big deal to YOU, but you’re not the centre of the universe, so let that incident go and stop having self-doubt because of that one time. If you didn’t do it then, you would do it now, and think about how much better it is done and dusted than for it to be part of your identity now. Be grateful, laugh it off and move on.
But our body also has energy vortexes or chakras, which are energy centres in our body which hold deep set beliefs or trauma in there. In order for the energy centres to function properly, you have to do inner work and clear all the negative energy that’s holding you back. There are seven main chakras, starting with root, sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye and crown chakra. Self-doubt mostly comes from a blockage in the solar plexus chakra. Have you ever felt that your nerves are in a twist in your gut? Yeah, that’s the solar plexus chakra being blocked. Symptoms of the blockage are constipation or diarrhoea, anxiety, confidence issues, esteem issues, and of course self-doubt. Your gut is giving you mixed signals and you don’t know what to believe; the fear or your intuition. Self-doubt is a symptom of negative self-talk, lack of belief in your goals, your ability, second-guessing your intuition and not being confident. There are many ways to clear out solar plexus chakra, for me personally, sound healing and journaling does the trick. People also do yoga poses, reiki, chanting, hypnosis and therapy.
Whatever you do, do it diligently and make sure you work through your emotional, mental or spiritual blockages that will help you be more aligned with your calling. Self-concept affirmations are also a good way to rewire your brain and work through limiting beliefs. It is not easy, as one is used to being in the same paradigm of pain and shame and confusion; but, with enough effort and a will to change yourself, to glow up, you can work through the self-doubt and triumph from it. Think hard about what I just said, and I shall catch you in my next one.