Face Your Self-Doubts with Confidence

I’m working with a writer now who has fallen into a pit of despair. She’s lost her way with her story. She’s convinced she’ll never get down on paper what’s in her imagination. She believes this isn’t the right time for her to undertake the challenge of going to distance. She wants to give up. I wish I could tell her it’s going to get easier, but … based on her feelings and the self-doubts she’s wrapped in, I’d say she’s deep into the Universal Story. And, the reality is that things are going to get way worse before they get better. Unless, that is, she does something, and quick.

Deep Dive

I show her the significance of where she is in the Universal Story. Deep into the third stage of the Universal Story – Dive Deep – she is being tested. Forced to face her limited beliefs, she must override her self-doubts with confidence.

“How?” she cries. “How do I face my fears and believe in myself when I don’t?”

Ah, ha! I think to myself. There it is. Right there. You don’t believe in yourself. Instead, I pull her forward.

“Fake it,” I say. “For now, until you reach the point when you can truly believe in yourself and your brilliance, fake it.”

Power of Affirmations

We discuss affirmations and the power of rewiring the brain to override the limiting self-beliefs we’ve assumed overtime in reaction to the hurts, failures, ridicule, traumas, disappointments we’ve suffered. She’s not convinced. Yet, for her to succeed, she has to prove she is up to the challenge by continuing to show up for herself. Her story is a reflection of her. A refusal to keep trying indicates she’s given up on herself.

“Let your doubts have their say,” I say. “Write them down. All of them. Let your demons flow out onto the page. All the ugly, mean, hateful things you say to yourself. All your fears about yourself, your unworthiness. And then … burn the paper they’re written on. Prove to yourself you deserve this.”

She, as with each of us, wouldn’t have been gifted with the idea of writing this story, painting that portrait, sculpting that figure if your spirit didn’t think you were ready. This is an opportunity for her to change her entire life. Right now. In this moment. Seize back your power and believe in yourself.

Change the World

The sequence of the Universal Story is: 1) Birth, 2) Conflict 3) Death, 4) Triumph. Until she dies to who she has always been and kills off those crippling beliefs about herself, she will never live the life she came here to live. What she creates – what each of us creates – has the power to change the world. We need her –and you – to let go of the small you and embrace the power within you waiting to manifest into genius.

She can do this. So, too, can you.

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For more information about the Universal Story and the power of affirmations and how to face your self-doubts with confidence, read and answers the questions and do the exercises in Boundless Creativity: A Spiritual Workbook for Overcoming Self-Doubt, Emotional Traps, and Other Creative Blocks.