Do you allow self-doubt to stand in the way of your creativity?
Have you fooled yourself in to believing your ideas or talents are not good enough?
Are you constantly diminishing or talents?
Take a few minutes to think about how you view your everyday experiences and how you typically react to them.
This quote by Sylvia Plath shines light on the fact that we allow our own self-doubt or even a lack of confidence to suffocate our ideas and creativity. The illusion that we are not good enough keeps us feeling trapped. Therefore, we do not let our creativity flow and flourish.
I have a friend who graduated college with an English degree with a passion to be an English teacher, who has a memory like a steel trap, and is quite witty, as well as creative with a vivid imagination.
His path, however, has led him to a job in a large corporation and although he would love, and often thinks about writing his own novels, he never succeeds. I remember having a conversation with him about this. I asked him why he does not pursue writing if he enjoys it so much. His response was any time he writes something, he does not think it is good enough or that anyone would like it.
His self-doubt extinguished his burning desire to want to create.
Think back to when you were younger. Do you remember being creative and free? How you were able to let your imagination entertain you for hours? Self-doubt was not in our vocabulary. I remember when I was younger I would constantly be drawing. I think my mother still has some of my drawings in frames. I did not let self-doubt stop me because I enjoyed what I was doing no matter what anyone said.
However, as we get older we lose that. There is some moment in time, some point in our lives, where we develop this misconception that we are not good enough. We develop a self-doubt in our talents and ideas and it overtakes us to the point that it shuts down from being the best version of ourselves.
It is important to recognize this and push past it. Acknowledge that it is a false belief picked up along the way and we have the choice to break through it like a black belt karate master punching through a stack of bricks.
Now, I am not saying that once you overcome your self-doubt you will be the next winner in one of those TV talent shows. However, who knows, maybe you will.
The point is that when you karate kick through your self-doubt, you will be willing to give it a shot. You feel confident in taking that chance.
Now it’s your turn.
How does this quote inspire you?
Tell me about an experience where self-doubt or a lack of confidence held your creativity in check? Did you manage to break through it? Is that doubt still holding you back?
Contact me or share your thoughts below in the Comments section.
Let’s get the discussion going.
Remember, you are not alone on this journey. Together we can become stronger individuals.
Thank you Anthony for this! It is so true how we often talk ourselves right out of our passions and talent.
I allowed self doubt to hold me back for years from becoming a fitness instructor and I mean years. It wasn’t until I went to a workshop about breaking through fear that I realized, I needed to make a move or I would regret not ever trying. I am so happy that I gave myself that push! It was scary at first, but I did it and I love it!