Doubt your doubts.

My reactions to thoughts have been changing.

I’m working on being more skeptical of some of my thoughts. I'm running thoughts and doubts through a tighter filter, not letting just any ol’ thought capture and hold my attention.

The self-doubt that comes up is normal, at least, that’s what I’ve been told. It’s gonna happen.

Recognizing and acknowledging that the doubt is only thought is a key step in letting go of that, to allow space for something more interesting to get my attention.

I recently noticed that I had gotten into a habit of taking doubtful thoughts at face value. They’d become too familiar for my liking…And that was messing with me.

I had (temporarily) been blind to the truth that I have the power and ability to doubt my doubts.

Were you trying to keep me safe, little doubt? What was your purpose? Oh, cool - just taking up space, slowly and inconspicuously sucking energy away from more fun and interesting things I want to be doing? That’s not gonna work for me anymore. But thanks for sticking around long enough for me to choose to do something about it.

Until pretty recently, I would’ve kept this kind of thing all to myself because it felt so close and personal. I kept this kind of thing in the ‘keep it to yourself/unsharable category’. Because (go figure) I had let all sorts of doubts get in the way.

So, as I write and share these little pieces, I pause and check my surroundings for doubts that are trying to get in and mess with me so I can acknowledge them, look ‘em in the eye, and dismiss them because they are no longer welcome.

Doubt is a drag, it feels big and heavy. It’s awkward and slippery and hard to hang onto.

It slows down my energy, clogs up my head with garbage. 

I had doubtful thoughts about even sharing this! Like, is this going to resonate with anyone? Will it matter?

One doubtful thought lead to another, and if I let them, they’d become so loud it seemed like I had no choice other than to give in and listen to them to shut them up, and that meant not sharing this.

How do I deal with it? It takes practice. It’s taken some time for me to realize that I don’t have to do much, actually - just let that thought (doubt) be, and let it go. Surrender.

That’s the thing about thoughts: there is often nothing I need to DO.

Just let them be. It’s how I react to those thoughts that matter.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way…

With Love,

Whitney