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The Day I Met My Inner Critic — And Silenced it in 4 Disarming Steps
How to Shut down that crippling voice
We all know that voice!
“You can’t possibly think that you will nail that presentation”!
“Your laugh is terrible”!
“She will always be prettier than you”!
Just like you, I have conflicting sentiments about my inner critic.
Self-criticism is the necessary police that arrests me when I think or feel in a way that is wrong or malevolent. So it is beneficial. But do you know when it becomes perilous? When it hampers my goals! When it blinds me from seeing my potential. When it shatters my self-esteem and forces me to overestimate people and underestimate myself.
My inner critic would essentially tell me that I am not enough in more than many ways. It would sound like this:
“You should write more. Many people make money on Medium. Why can’t you post at least one story a week?”
“You should stay silent in this meeting. Why do you keep saying lame-brained stuff?”
“ Your friends know the lyrics of a song by heart. You? You have to search for the lyrics on Google and feign that you know them. What’s wrong with your brain?”
