Self-doubt can impact not only your self-esteem but also your personal, social and professional performance. What are the ways to understand self-doubt and cope with it?
Self-doubt is defined as the uncertainty of your truth, and this could include your thoughts, values, emotions, beliefs, decisions, and inner views. These voices in your head will restrict your abilities and convince you that you’re not good enough, you’re incapable and you’re not strong enough.
People who experience self-doubt could sense varying levels of their self-image. Research shows that any aspect of your life that could lead you to question your existing beliefs, thoughts, or emotions can lead to self-doubt.
So how can you understand your self-doubt, and how to cope with these feelings?
What causes self-doubt?
To a specific extent, many people consider self-doubt as a normal trait that everyone possesses, and it can be justified by the fact that human beings do question their surroundings and themselves a lot whenever they have the chance to. So as a matter of fact, all of us have a little bit of self-doubt within, but what differs is its intensity and the way we manage to accept it.
- Childhood attachment:
Your early childhood experiences say a lot about you as a person today. The way you were treated and your relationship terms as a child could define and set rules to your social and even emotional life as an adult.
If you were used to seeking and asking for attention and love from your caregivers, this could develop a sense of unworthiness accompanied by a lack of confidence and self-esteem.
- Criticism:
Social and peer pressure could have a deep impact on how you perceive yourself. If you have been exposed to criticism, you may start developing self-doubt patterns.
- Imposter syndrome:
This psychological phenomenon is linked tightly to self-doubt. Imposter syndrome is defined by strongly believing that you are undeserving of your own success and triumphs. You have this fear that people will know or discover that all that you’ve got now is nothing but luck, and it has nothing to do with your own efforts, hard work, and intelligence.
What does self-doubt mean?
Self-doubt may stem from previous negative experiences or from attachment style issues. Experiencing self-doubt can have a large negative effect on your self-worth and deep pressure that if not addressed, can lead to:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Low self-esteem
- Social isolation
- Poor performance
- Social anxiety
- Emotional instability
- Lack of motivation
- Difficulty making decisions
Because self-doubt is such an unpleasant experience, we often deal with it in automatic and unconscious ways—some of which can be good and others not so good.
5 Ways to cope with self-doubt
Self-doubt is an exhausting thought pattern that ruins your chances for success. Everyone struggles with uncertainty throughout their lives, but being able to practice the process of letting it go, you tend to be free of all the negative thoughts.
- Recognize your thoughts
Self-doubt could be a result of several traumatic factors. When you start experiencing self-doubt, pause for a minute and notice these thoughts. Try to identify their origin and acknowledge them as existing thoughts which do not define you.
- Practice self-compassion.
If you are constantly judging yourself, seeking perfection, or holding high expectations for yourself, self-doubt will remain as protection. Self-compassion, however, quiets your inner critic and worries about others’ criticism. To practice self-compassion, start paying attention to how you talk to yourself.
- Forgive yourself.
Forgiving yourself is often harder than forgiving others. We constantly dwell on the times we failed or caused someone harm. We may play the victim and hold ourselves back from a life of betterment. Find the strength to overcome these shortcomings. Transfer the energy spent feeling guilt and self-criticism into the positive aspects of your life and move forward because self-compassion is allowed.
- Surround yourself with supportive people
Know the friends that will support, advise and encourage you; find the friends that think that you are capable of doing the impossible. Those are the friends that are worth your time, not the ones that always provide you with negative energy. Find friends that want you to rise and let go of the ones that were dragging you down because of their insecurities. Maybe having a bad group of friends will help you in realizing the good group.
- Remember your past achievements
One aspect of self-doubt could lead you to forget your own achievements. Have some time to look back, recall every time you did something you thought was hard, even if that was getting out of bed on a lazy day. Write these things down and remind yourself that a person who was able to do these, surely can achieve much more.
I know that now you are feeling sad, lost, and unworthy. But trust me, things are going to get easier once you realize your real abilities. You will get there ❤️