How do you battle the internal voice that may speak words of doubt about the beauty and worthiness of your natural beauty?
I’m at a point in my life where I’m constantly repeating affirmations to myself to counteract my inner critic.
For many years, I felt very insecure in my skin and in my personality, and I relied almost solely on the approval of others, men and women alike, to feel beautiful.
Beginning with my natural hair transition, I began appreciating all the things I used to hide. My hair is big and poofy and I like it. I used to hide that. I am very creative and sensitive and awkward and I used to feel completely embarrassed by that.
I have dreams of living a completely different lifestyle and having a very different career than what was expected of me, and somewhere inside I had to find the courage to pursue my dreams, regardless of what anyone thinks, even if no one understands right away. In order to do that, I have had to learn to work with that inner voice and find out where my insecurities come from.
I highly recommend finding a creative outlet. This is what saved me. When you have a way to express everything that’s going on inside of you in a creative way, to make sense of yourself and the world, then you will start to value and appreciate the outside more as well. Everything outside is an extension of what flows on the inside.
So that’s a long winded way of saying that I beat my inner critic daily by doing the following:
- I don’t say negative things to myself and when those old thoughts come up, I ignore them or redirect them.
- I change how I think about my insecurities by exploiting them and talking about them, taking their power away.
- I remind myself that the more authentic I am, inside and out, the closer I will get to fulfilling my dreams.
