Gentle reader: Do you experience or even suffer with self-doubt? If you feel self-doubt, have you found a way to deal with it?
So many of us experience self-doubt, some of us to a more debilitating extent than others. I can be plagued by self-doubt at almost every stage of almost everything that I do. When the self-doubt comes on strong, I find it a constant struggle to live with and wherever possible to overcome. I am sure it is the case that many more people are in this exact same boat.
If you experience self-doubt, do you keep it a secret?
It is too often seen as a weakness to own up to self-doubt. But why should that be? It is quite possible that self-doubt actually stems from a healthy instinct, namely to think through (and hopefully anticipate and if possible head off) potential weaknesses or downfalls in particular situations in which we may or may not find ourselves. And for those of us who know the feeling of self-doubt, perhaps any achievement that we can pull off when faced with self-doubt should be acknowledged and celebrated?
A while ago, my good friend Jay Kuhns wrote an excellent blog post concerning his own feelings of self-doubt, entitled Wounds.
In this post, Jay describes self-doubt as his “old nemesis”, and speaks of his hesitancy even to own up to it. Jay writes:
“Shouldn’t I be able to just shake it off? Well, no. The weight of the struggle feels heavy and is not something I can simply decide to toss aside. These feelings don’t work that way.”
I admire Jay for being open about his self-doubt in this way. Jay’s words resonated with my own experience. I feel I know him better as a person, for knowing of his struggles with self-doubt.
I am put in mind of a song I have always loved, Low Self Opinion by Rollins Band (from the album The End of Silence). Poetic it is not. But accurate it is. The lyrics are direct to the point of bluntness. They nail perfectly some of the feelings that self-doubt can bring up. I find the following lines particularly powerful:
“If you could see the you/ That I see when I see you/ You’d see yourself so differently/ I assure you/ I know the self-doubt/ That lurks inside your mind/ I know the self-doubt/ That treats you so unkind.”
Self-doubt can be unkind to those who experience. But does that mean that those who experience self-doubt should keep it a secret?
There is no right way or wrong way to deal with self-doubt. If you experience self-doubt, I sincerely hope that you have found a way to live with and to thrive in spite or even because of it.
May you be nothing but kind today, to others and to yourself.
May today be nothing but kind to you and yours.
IMAGES
- Jean Louis Forain – Tight-Rope Walker – 1951.208 – Art Institute of Chicago via Wikimedia Commons.
- Wilhelm Simmler Auf dem Hochseil via Wikimedia Commons.
- Akrobati z Ježice nastopajo v Ljubljani via Wikimedia Commons.
MJCarty 
