I talk a lot about toxic self-doubt and its impact on therapist confidence and career. But recently I listened to my all new favourite podcast and heard “Self-doubt is a privilege”. Say what??
And so I continued to listen to Erika Cramer, the Latin powerhouse also known as The Queen of Confidence, for her perspective. More about Erika below and the latest podcast I am featured on below*
Some people don’t have the luxury of self-doubt. They have to do what they do and they have to take the risks they took because otherwise there will be consequences they don’t want to live with. Like not having enough money for their family. Or being stuck in a lifetime of poverty and passing that forward to their children. Things that they don’t want.
Other people don’t face these consequences. So they can stay comfortable in their self-doubt. Safe in not doing. Safe in wondering if they could. Safe watching others do what they tell themselves they want to do.
And I thought, yes, I see, Erika. It would have been safer for me to have stayed working 100% in therapy, with 90% of being for clients tied to Medicare rebates. I was doing well financially. I had the privilege to keep doing that. No one would be worse off. I probably would have slept more.
I faced a BIG psychological battle to move my business from a primarily Medicare-funded therapy providing business to what it is today.
Big included being forced to deal with some majorly faulty schema programming that went into a major protest as I became increasingly visible to the Australian psychological community and started gaining traction with my message.
I kept showing up with the message of my new business and I kept growing my new business during that time, so most people would not have realised the depth of the struggle that I was going through.
I thank the healthy part of me that wanted me to change my life for the better, that knew I had to change my life for the better. That part of me kept the momentum going towards my goal during that really awful time.
I am glad the healthy part didn’t listen to the side that wanted to stay comfortable in the self-doubt, in the “who am I to do that?” stuff. I’m glad it also didn’t listen to the well-meaning advice of some people such as “maybe this is too much for you.” or “why not wait til you are better and see what you want then?.”
As you read this, check in with yourself:
- Do you want to change your life enough to do it with self-doubt riding shot gun?
- Is any of your self-doubt stuff operating as a double agent to keep you in the safe zone?
- And if so, what is the cost of staying in the safe zone?
- Are you ok with sitting on the sidelines watching other people do what you want to do?
- Are you will to go for your goals with self-doubt, fear, anxiety, nerves, or whatever it is that makes you uncomfortable being there on the journey?
If you are, send me a message and let me know or book A 1:1 with me here
Authentically yours
Nadene
*Erika Cramer is a Latina living in Australia. If you have trauma in your background and/ or come from a marginalised group, Erika’s podcast shows us this can be our strength, even though it might whisper in our ear that we can’t reach our goals because of xyz. She does swear a bit, in the most delightful and resonate way, for those who need a language warning. Importantly, Erika is real and she is passionate about empowering women and her mantra is “Confidence is not comfortable”. In that way, I feel she is like a soul sister I’ve never met.
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