Diminishing Self-Doubt - Discovering Your Enemy

In order to conquer something, you’ve got to know what it is first. Self-doubt is not something anyone is proud to admit to, and can cause other behaviors to take effect, like bitterness, anger, frustration or even depression. Doubt alone is being untrustworthy of someone or something, but add the word, “self” in front and you are mistrusting yourself. If people aren’t confident in themselves, how can they expect others, like their beloved character from the stories lurking in their heads, to be confident in them? Evidence has proven that everything that happens in life is directly linked in some way to your thought life.

​Doubt is like a disease: it consumes our thoughts, which spreads to our motivation, until it finally reaches the core of our ambitions and prevents us from feeling adequate to follow our dreams. No matter what we do in life, we will always deal with obstacles standing in our way. Your limits of doubt are tested when you see how well you have improved despite all odds you face. Perhaps life is getting in the way of your writing, which is your first obstacle. Or you are prone to excuses. There are always excuses not to do something. But that makes it even more important to pursue your dream no matter what excuse others give or you give yourself. Even if it's one baby step at a time, your dream in the long run will be worth the ride. Your obstacle may come from constant questioning if you want to make this character a certain way or if this plot twist is actually going to work. If you have already passed the monster of writing your story, then the battle’s almost over. However, you can still be stalled through your attempts to get published. If you've noticed, there is a trend in every process of the writing world – doubt.

For every writer battling doubt, remember that it only starts in one place – the mind. The first and best tactic to preventing doubt from wiping out your writing career is through the mind. Controlling your mind is harder than it may sound – if it sounds easy at all. The Bible teaches the best way to identify it, by “casting down every vain imagination.” Thoughts come so fast, so many times we don’t catch them until they already have swiped across the mind. Often, we must attack the thoughts before they manifest. One thought doesn’t ruin everything, but dwelling on the thoughts made them grow like a festering wound. The more the thoughts come, the deeper the wound gets infected, until it overwhelms the body and destroys it. In the same way, negative thoughts can do the same to the hopes and dreams you hold dear to your heart. That is why it is important to keep your mind in check and prevent the doubt from settling in a place it doesn’t belong.