"You've undoubtedly heard it somewhere, sometime before: that you are unique, that you're here in this life for a purpose, and that your goal is to live a life that truly reflects who you are. It sounds good and feels right on a good day, but it is clearly easier said than done. But like a lot of things in life, the doing starts with knowing what creates the stopping-what keeps you from being you."
"You're afraid. Fear can stop us in our tracks. You're afraid to try because you don't and can't know what will happen next, you worry about others' reactions, or because doing what you want means stepping outside your comfort zone-it feels awkward at best, but often simply dangerous. You've built your life around approval. I'm OK if you're OK. A lot of us grew up with that mantra embedded in our heads."
Fear, the need for approval, self-criticism, and an outcome-only measure of success commonly prevent people from living authentically. Fear halts action due to uncertainty, social reactions, and discomfort from leaving comfort zones. Reliance on others' approval scatters attention and obligations. Inner self-criticism acts as a relentless bully that anticipates failure. Measuring success only by outcomes ties doing to finished products and expectations, undermining experimentation. Effective responses include approaching anxiety, challenging self-criticism, prioritizing process over outcomes, and taking incremental steps or experiments. Slow progress, baby steps, and not remaining immobile enable gradual alignment with true self.
Read at Psychology Today
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]