BREAKING THROUGH SELF DOUBT: EMBRACING CONFIDENCE AND BELIEF

Image Source: Ansche Chesed

At first, it starts with phrases like, "I’ll probably mess this up. Another one will come and that time it'll be for me." Then slowly it graduates to "This is such a waste of time. I'll never be great at this." 

• Self Doubt 

Self-doubt is the silent thief of potentials, the relentless voice in your head that turns confidence into constant hesitations, dreams into regrets, and opportunities into what-ifs. It disguises itself as caution, as logic, as humility, but its only purpose is to make you question your worth until you no longer recognize your own brilliance. This slow poison gradually creeps in, infecting every aspect of life until it takes full control, settling deep in the mind and making itself at home before you even notice it.

At first, self-doubt doesn’t seem like a problem. It’s just a small hesitation, a quiet thought whispering, Are you sure you can do this? It starts off harmless, reassuring you that you're just being cautious, you're just avoiding mistakes. But little by little, it spreads. Before you know it, one missed opportunity turns into many, one moment of hesitation becomes a habit. Soon, you’re holding back in ways you don’t even realize, you find yourself staying silent when you really have something to say, stepping aside when instead you should be stepping forward.

That’s how it was for Ada. For years, she let self-doubt shape her choices, her friendships and especially the way she saw herself. She never really put too much thought into it, the voice had merged with hers, it had already become part of her.   

As she grew older, the voice never left. It didn’t shout, it didn’t have to. It simply lingered in the background, a parasite that never missed an opportunity to remind her of her shortcomings.

At sixteen, it told her she wasn't interesting enough to join the drama club. She feared she would be a laughing stock. 

At eighteen, it convinced her she wouldn’t get into her dream university, so she didn’t even apply and decided to settle for the next best thing.

At twenty, it whispered that her writing wasn’t good enough for anyone to read. So she wrote in secret, stuffing notebooks under her bed like they were something to be ashamed of.

Self-doubt is tricky that way. It doesn’t come all at once like a tidal wave. It comes in slowly, filling up your mind until you are drowning before you even realize it.

 It makes you hesitate, to take a step back, to let opportunities pass, until one day, you look around and realize you've been stuck in the same place for too long. And then, just when you think you’ve made peace with playing small, something appears. A chance. An opportunity. The email arrived on a quiet afternoon, its subject line bold and impossible to ignore: "Call for Submissions: LitLuminaries Writing Competition."

She almost scrolled past it. Almost.

Instead, she clicked. 

    The details were clear, an opportunity to submit an original short story for a chance to win mentorship with renowned authors, publication in a major literary magazine, and a cash prize. It was the kind of opportunity she had spent years dreaming about, the kind she often imagined herself stepping into but never actually did.

 As she read the email again, the familiar voice of self-doubt started its speech, slipping into her thoughts as easily as it always did.

You’re not good enough for this.

Your writing isn’t competition material.

Someone else will win.

She had been here before, about to engage in something bigger than herself, something that could change her life if only she had the courage to reach for it. But every time, she let fear decide for her. 

  Over the years in University, she had watched her classmates seize opportunities, their confidence shining effortlessly. They always seemed so sure, so certain, while she shrank further into the background, convinced that she wasn’t the right fit for spaces like these.

But this time felt different. This time, she felt something deeper than fear.

All of a sudden she felt so tired.

Tired of holding herself back. Tired of the fact that she let chances slip through her fingers because she was too afraid of not being good enough.

The doubt didn’t disappear, but she did something she had never done before, she ignored it. She began to apply. She had no idea if she would win. No idea if her writing would be good enough.

But for the first time, that wasn’t the point. The point was that she was trying. She submitted the story before the deadline, refusing to reread it too many times, knowing that if she did, she might convince herself to withdraw. Once it was sent, there was nothing left to do but wait. But something strange happened while she waited.

She had expected to feel regret, to drown in overthinking, to tell herself she had made a mistake. Instead, she felt lighter, like something inside her had shifted. For the first time, she had chosen action over fear.

And whether she won or lost, that alone felt like a victory. The results came on a Monday. She stared at the email in her inbox, pulse racing as she read the words .

"Congratulations, your story has been selected…"

She read it twice. Then three times.

Tears of disbelief burned at the back of her eyes. Then the sense of relief flushed within her. She had spent so long believing she wasn’t good enough. All this time letting self-doubt dictate her choices.

She realized now that all this time she had been wasting doubting herself, she should have spent it proving to herself that she was worthy of taking up space.

And now she knew the truth, self-doubt had never been protecting her from failure. It had only been keeping her from trying. Ada learnt a valuable lesson that day. Self-doubt only wins if you let it. It will always be there, lurking in the background, waiting for a moment of hesitation so it can speak in its screeching whisper. But the only way to silence it is to act despite it.

Every opportunity lost, every dream abandoned, is not because of lack of ability but because of fear. And fear, as Ada learnt, is not a reason to stop, instead it was a reason to keep going. There are so many chances in the world waiting to be taken. The people who succeed are not the ones without doubt, they are the ones who refuse to let it control them.

She had spent years waiting, waiting to be good enough. But she didn't wait anymore. Because the only thing that stood between her and the life she wanted had been the voice in her head telling her she couldn’t.

And finally, she had stopped listening.