Reach your full potential

There is something terrible lurking about.  It’s everywhere, watching all of us, waiting for that moment when it can pounce and take us down.  It seeps into our work life, our family life, our faith, and our self-worth.  It’s dark, it’s ugly, and it won’t hesitate to tear you apart without missing a beat.  

The beast I speak of is doubt.

I battle with doubt, and I feel ashamed.  I doubt myself, I doubt my faith, and I doubt my ability as a wife, a mother, and a human in general.  Doubt is like a terrible companion that overstays its welcome.  Like a family member who I can’t tell to leave, doubt sits next to me while I eat my breakfast.  It walks with me when I do my job.  It stares at me through judgmental eyes as I go about my daily activities.

While this evil little twerp called doubt sits on my shoulders, I look at people around me and feel less than them.  I look at women in my field, and I feel like they should be the ones doing this, because I am totally clueless.  I look at women of faith, and I wonder why they can stand up and be so strong when I feel like I don’t deserve God’s grace.  I watch other moms, and I feel like they are doing a much better job than me.  Worse yet, I see other wives and feel like a fraud. 

Then I grab that sucker off my back and I drown him in the sink. 

Everyone comes face –to-face with doubt.  It can eat you alive from the inside if you don’t first recognize it, then kill it, and realize that like a good parasite, it will find you again when you least expect it.  There are some great practices you can put into place to help you pull yourself back to safety when doubt wears you down.

•    Keep a pamper basket on hand- Think of your very favorite things.  Your favorite scented lotion, your favorite color of fingernail polish, your favorite place to eat, your favorite place to shop, and any of your other favorite things.  Keep pampering products, gift certificates to your favorite places, and a sweet treat in your pamper basket.  When you feel doubt start to take you down, pull it out and spoil yourself.
• Take a break-Step back for a while.  Sink into a book like The Confidence Gap: AGuide to Overcoming Fear and Self-Doubt by Russ Harris. 
• Keep a goal journal-Write down your goals and journal about your achievements, and when you doubt yourself, pull that journal out and remind yourself of what you've done.
• Talk to your support system-We have a great slogan in our Damselin Defense sisterhood, “When you’re feeling up, call down, when you’re feeling down, call up”.  What that means is that when you are feeling up, call your down line and help them with their success.  When you’re feeling down, call your recruiter, and keep calling right up the line until you get the wind back in your sails.  If you’re feeling doubt as a mom, call another mom.  If you’re feeling doubt as a wife, call another wife.  If you’re feeling doubt in your faith, call another believer.  Reach out to the people in your circle and let them know you’re struggling.  I promise they’ll help.
• Meditate-Take some time to close your eyes and refocus.  Come back in line with who you are.  Picture yourself achieving your goals.  Imagine yourself in the role you want to be in.

Doubt may be watching and ready for you at any time, but if you’re ready for it, you won’t even loose entire days any more.  It starts with you.  First you have to take the initiative to make changes in your patterns.  After that, the sky is the limit.

If you’re ready to reach your full potential, email sunshine@yourdamseldiva.com  to learn more about joining a company that puts the mission first.