You’ve had a zit before, chances are you’ve had many. And I’m not talking about the occasional little zit, I’m talking about the full blown, four alarm zit.
We’ve all had this kind of zit. Now imagine inspecting yourself very closely. You, of course, zoom in and only focus on the zit. In doing this you’ve taken away all perspective of how big your zit actually is. By only focusing on the zit, instead of all of you, you drastically multiply the size of your zit. Not in reality of course, but perceptually.
As you go about your life this new, irrational perception of your zit stays on your mind. It impacts the way you present yourself, the way you perceive people looking at you and how you feel about yourself.
Meanwhile, no one else really cares about your zit. They may notice the zit, but viewed within the framework and proportion of the rest of you, the zit is really no big deal.
Now I want you to read this post again. Except this time I’m going to replace the word “zit” with the word “doubt”.
Here goes…
You’ve had doubts before, chances are you’ve had many. And I’m not talking about the occasional little doubt, I’m talking about the full blown, four alarm doubt.
We’ve all had this kind of doubt. Now imagine inspecting yourself very closely. You, of course, zoom in and only focus on the doubt. In doing this you’ve taken away all perspective of how big your doubt actually is. By only focusing on the doubt, instead of all of you, you drastically multiply the size of your doubt. Not in reality of course, but perceptually.
As you go about your life this new, irrational perception of your doubt stays on your mind. It impacts the way you present yourself, the way you perceive people looking at you and how you feel about yourself.
Meanwhile, no one else really cares about your doubt. They may notice the doubt, but viewed within the framework and proportion of the rest of you, the doubt is really no big deal.
Fortunately, zits heal on their own. Unfortunately, doubts don’t.
Healing our doubts takes effort. It takes effort to focus on our talents. Focusing on our talents in the face of a nasty doubt allows us to see ourselves for who we are. We’re fallible. We’re more than imperfect. We’re human.
Don’t let your doubts steal the show. In fact, welcome them in. Surround them with your talents, your strengths and your humanness. That way, even though you know your doubts are present, like that zit on your forehead, they won’t be the only thing you see when you look in the mirror.