For years, I let my fears and doubts shape who I was and how I lived my life.
What would they think of me if I did that?
Would I upset them if I followed my way?
Would I humiliate myself if I failed?
So, I tiptoed.
I sat on the fence.
I snoozed.
I wasn’t taking bold enough action.
I wasn’t pursuing my truest dreams.
I was half-hearted in my commitment to myself.
More invested in my fears, than in my dreams.
Driven by the autopilot of my conditioning, rather than by full accountability.
The result?
Low energy.
Lack of enthusiasm.
Anxiety, depression, inner turmoil.
A deep sense of fragmentation.
Loud inner critic attacks resulting in shame, guilt and an ever-deepening sense of inadequacy.
Two core lies kept me stuck in this labyrinth:
The lie: I was stopped by what other people thought of me.
The truth: I was stopped by what I thought of me.
I was stopped by the fear of discovering that I’m every bit the flawed person that my subconscious mind, based on conditioning I was saddled with, told me I was.
The lie: I had to be perfect, get everything right, never fail.
The truth: I needed to heal my inner child that was conditioned to think that failure was something she was, not something she did.
Once, I saw those lies for what they were—protective mechanisms that no longer served me, I began the real journey: the journey of coming home to myself.
I stopped asking, “What if I fail?” and started asking, “What if I fly?”
I stopped performing for love and started embodying love.
I stopped shrinking and started expanding.
Healing didn’t happen overnight.
It was a rollercoaster. Still is.
And it takes presence, courage, and radical honesty.
But slowly, I reclaimed my voice.
I reclaimed my power.
I stopped looking for permission outwards and found it within me.
I began leaning into my vulnerability.
And I showed up—not as a polished version of myself—but as the raw human I’d buried beneath years of self-judgement, self-abandonment and perfectionism.
Things changed when I stopped outsourcing my worth and started trusting myself.
Not because the doubts disappeared—but because I learned how to witness them without believing them.
Not because fear stopped speaking—but because I stopped obeying its every word.
Mind mastery didn’t mean silencing my inner critic—it meant learning to question it.
It meant noticing the stories I was telling myself and choosing different ones.
It meant becoming the thinker behind the thoughts.
I refuse to live at the mercy of my conditioning.
I choose to lead my mind instead of let it lead me.
I create space between my thoughts and who I am.
And in that space, I find my freedom.
Because true freedom isn’t the absence of fear or self-doubt—
It’s the ability to choose who you are in the presence of them.
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This is what I teach inside my free two-day masterclass: Freedom From Self-Doubt and Overwhelm. If you’re ready to increase your impact and bring the spark back into your life, reserve your spot now: www.pavlina.me/inner-freedom