How I Made Peace With My Inner Critic
And saw him for who he really is
As a writer and a shrink, I’m intimately familiar with the inner critic, both my own and others’. You might expect us to be natural enemies. Most of my clients come to me complaining about their inner critics and asking me to silence them. If only they didn’t have this voice in their head constantly demeaning them, they would be happier than they are.
I would caution you from taking up arms too quickly against your inner critic, much less enlisting a therapist in the battle. You already have one critic; you would not be better off with a second. One’s already criticizing you for everything you do, the second would end up criticizing the first for being too critical. They will not get along.
My Own Inner Critic
I’ll use my own case as an example. Whenever I write, I have an inner critic whispering in my brain that my work is garbage, no one will read it, and I’m just wasting my time. For decades, I called myself a writer without ever completing anything because of this constant discouragement.
I tried starting a private journal where the standards could be lower. It didn’t help. All I did in my journal was scold myself for not writing. The critics multiplied. I had to consider the problem in a different way…
