I know doubt well.
For years, I mistrusted my inner guidance.
Doubting myself and my decisions, over and over again.
I ignored my intuition, even when it was screaming at me.
I dismissed the calls of my heart and soul and followed the advice of my logical mind.
I’d start a project, put hours and hours of work and passion into it…
Then decide it’s not the right thing.
I’d commit to a routine, knowing it’d move me in the right direction…
And then, I’d abandon it.
I’d develop a strategy and a plan for my business.
Spending weeks and weeks on figuring it all out.
And then, I’d decide it’s not the right fit.
The pattern:
Decision > Action > Doubt > New decision > New action > Doubt > Ad infinitum.
One day, my brain exploded under the frustration and heaviness of it all.
The defeat of staying perpetually stuck.
How could I move forward in my life…
How could I possibly make progress…
When I was plagued by doubt?
When I always ended up mistrusting myself?
And then, the two insights that shifted everything!
I realised that…
1: I have never doubted myself. Instead, I have always trusted myself to buy into my doubt. To follow through on my doubt. To side with my inner critic.
2: I am not doubting myself because I’m on the wrong track, I’m doubting myself because I’m getting closer!
Self-doubt is an expression of fear.
An attempt to self-sabotage and keep yourself stuck.
And the bigger the dream and liberation you’re onto, the stronger the self-doubt.
Self-doubt is not a sign to give up, it’s a sign to double down.
Change strains our nervous system.
And whenever we work on transforming something in our lives, there’s a part of us that wants to move on and a part that wants us to stay put.
The part that’s resisting change is driven by fear. It’s the voice of our smallness, the inner critic, the “less than” self.
The part that wants to change is motivated by trust and wisdom. By your greatness. It’s your higher self, who you truly are.
And as we change, subconscious negotiation takes places between these two sides of us.
On the level of the nervous system, that’s the competition between the parasympathetic nervous system, whose function is to slow us down, and the sympathetic nervous system that activates the power of our full resources.
And the closer you get to the change you truly desire…
And the bigger that change is…
The more aligned it is with you greatness…
The closer it brings you into you full potential and power…
The more expansive, liberating and abundant expression it is of who you are…
The more fierce the fight from the part of you that wants to keep you stuck.
It’d throw any and all obstacles your way to keep you “safe”…
But here is the thing…
The danger it wants to protect you from is not real—it’s an illusion.
Because the threat is not your greatness, the threat is the suffocation of staying small and stuck.
Your “less than” self is frightened by your greatness.
And it’ll try to limit you as you get to it.
Recognising the patterns and knowing how to manage the transition is key.
This is what I teach inside my free two-day masterclass: Freedom From Self-Doubt and Inner Emptiness.
If you’re ready to bring the spark back into your life, and step into the highest expression of who you are, you can reserve your spot here: www.pavlina.me/trueself