Why You Must Doubt Your Doubt

Putting yourself out there can be terrifying. It’s not something that came naturally to me, but more like a muscle I had to exercise and train.
 
Telling people I was leaving a job at National Geographic at age 24 to pursue freelance writing and yoga teaching was not a supportive experience. Most people looked at me like I’d just said I was relocating to Mars to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
 
“What about your health insurance?”
 
“After going to journalism school, you’re going to be a yoga teacher?”
 
“Um . . . good luck.”
 
Had I listened to these naysayers (and boy, there were a lot of them), I’d most certainly still be sitting at a desk. Going to a lot of happy hours. And I’d likely be very, very unhappy.
 
I was totally unsure that I could make it happen, but even the thought of the risk made me feel more alive and joyful than I’d been in a very long time.

Sometimes you have to doubt your doubt.

As one of my favorite coaches Brooke Castillo says, “Self doubt is thoughts that don’t support us in our capabilities. Our ability to grow is our ability to move beyond doubtful thinking.”

“Self doubt is thoughts that don’t support us in our capabilities. Our ability to grow is our ability to move beyond doubtful thinking.”

For the past few weeks, I’ve been working with a talented life coach, Mandy Vickers, to look at my habitual thought patterns and ways of being. To have a compassionate but awake perspective to check in with every single Friday has felt like such an immense support.
 
Today she encouraged me to create two new belief systems for myself:
 
“Everything is as it should be.”
 
“The world needs my work.”
 
And now those beliefs are on a sticky note on my bathroom mirror to remind myself several times a day.
 
The first belief came pretty easily. Felt comfortable and sweet, in fact. That second one felt hard. It felt “conceited.”
 
Reframe: “The world needs my work because I have a unique offering. I’m willing to bear my underbelly. To be responsible and committed in my action.”
 
All a work in progress. And all as it should be.
 
What is a new, self-serving and empowering belief system that you can create for yourself? Create it, stick with it, and watch yourself grow.
 
Featured Image: Mary Beth LaRue