WRITING
Gratitude Is a Great Cure for Self-Doubt
You can help and be helped to cure it in yourself
Self-doubt. The tiny voices in my head are whispering all the time. What if they won’t like it? What if my journey towards a better world is BS? What if my Fibonacci poetry sucks? What if…
Who doesn’t know these tiny voices? Be honest. I bet you have them too. I was glad to read in the Thanksgiving story by Dew Langrial that even Stephen King suffered from it.
“Even writers like Stephen King have to face their doubts. In On Writing, he says, “Writing fiction, especially a long work of fiction can be a difficult, lonely job; it’s like crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a bathtub. There’s plenty of opportunity for self-doubt.” — Dew Langrial
The tiny voices have been ruling my life for a long time. And although I seemed very successful on the outside, I didn’t feel it. And my real longing to be a writer never flourished because of the tiny voices.
Until I found my doing in 2013 and my voice to accompany the doing last year. And I found my daring! I’m out there now, writing and sharing, building and caring. And I love it!
My audience appreciates me. They tell me I’m an inspiring doer via LinkedIn and I reached #59 on the inspiring writer list on Medium.
Am I telling you this to brag? Neah. I’m telling you this because these little snippets of appreciation by my readers, colleagues, and friends are silencing my tiny voices. They help me face the harsh criticism, which is also out there. Believe me!
I just wrote a story with the 4 four agreements in Toltec wisdom (Miguel Ruiz wrote about it).
- Be impeccable with your word
- Don’t take anything personally
- Don’t make assumptions
- Always do your best
#2 helps me overcome my tiny voices. And if I hear the reactions from my readers, others are helped by this one too. Try it sometime.
#1 helps me not to hurt anyone else and make the tiny voices flare-up in another person.
And #4 is this story. Doing my best. Giving gratitude to everyone out there who’s doing great things. And who needs to be reassured that what they’re doing is good enough.
Thanksgiving
So, now it’s time for gratitude giving. What my friends and sister/fellow changemakers create in the world matters! And at the same time, I want you to meet some of the people that I admire tremendously for all they do. They found their doing-spirit and their voices. And I love them for it.
Selma is a kindred spirit. She gives bucket loads of love and miracles to other people. Helps their stories go viral. And is a very inspiring writer/poet as well. In short: someone you want to know just for the goodness of her heart. I wish you miracles, Selma, and hope to visit you in Japan someday.
Rebecca Romanelli is one of those women whose life you cannot help but admire. Wild and adventurous, sharing stories of her youth exploring the wilderness as if it was her back garden. Wonderfully weird.
I write about rewilding my soul at a later stage of my life. Well, I think hers has been wild all along. She’s wise and kind. And your eyes will be glued to the pages of her stories. Mine are anyway. Thanks, Rebecca!
iCanay is a woman I admire greatly. She has built impressive businesses and now shares all her soul’s wisdom with the women and men of the world prepared to be part of The Great Transition in the business world. Let me also mention her husband Rudy de Waele here. He’s an inspiring futurist giving me food for thought time and time again. Thanks, Canay and Rudy! We might meet live in Ibiza someday.
There’s a second Rebecca I’m admiring for her honesty and impressive voice on equality. Rebecca Stevens A. writes stories that broaden my world. Sharpen my view. Color my perceptions. Thank you, Rebecca, for adding your wisdom to my life. I never feel insecure around you. I feel empowered to use my own privilege for matters that matter. And support others on their journey.
Amy Marley has become my Aussie friend since I dared to write on Medium. She struggles and writes about it. She gives her best to her girls and writes about it. She connects to nature and writes about it. In short: she’s an inspiring voice here. Thank you, Amy, for being you. And who knows when Australia can be on my agenda.
Keno Ogbo is changing the world with tiny life moments. She knows we learn best by experiencing all kinds of stuff first hand. So, she motivates people to treasure the tiny life moments that fill their lives (everybody has them, all day long), learn and share. So others can become aware of their own tiny life moments.
Her tools are a Medium publication, a website, with many online tools connected. Tiny voices can be a negative virus spreading, they can also inspire positive change and daring in people. See you around when sharing my tiny snippets and reading other’s, Keno.
Zairah Khan is a change maker of great significance. She is a thinker and a doer. She works on great projects involving seaweed in the solutions for our times. And she designs community gardens. Contributing to the health and wellbeing of neighbors. Gardening together might be the one thing that’ll give us peace of mind in these strange times. See you in The Hague sometime, Zairah, and soon on Zoom.
Christiana Gardikioti is my Greek friend. She’s a change-maker longing to bring wellness and prosperity to her region in the Peleponnesos. She is a thinker and a doer with perseverance! And although I could not make it to Greece on time to help her team build the new reality, we’re planning to be with them in the spring.
Whenever the borders of the European countries open, we’ll travel and stay a few months to make it happen. Wanna be part of the change? Wanna learn about Blue Economy? Consider joining us for a bit on the beautiful Mount Parnonas. Sea and snorkeling will color our days of change-making.
Christiana hasn’t written any stories here (yet) but please follow her anyway. When she finds her voice, the tales she will tell are mighty inspiring I assure you. Thanks for being my friend, Christiana!
Please, my friends, be inspired to hand over your own thanksgiving present to whoever inspires you. I’ll be happy to read and meet new people I can admire. Trista Selma Elisabeth Amy Michele Keno Rebecca Rebecca Dennett Zelam Dew Tree Agnes Agnes Jenine Adelia Kaia Yael Maria CR Annelise Nicole Caroline Melissa Charlotte Gurpreet Lanu Aurora Annick Neha Noma Sherry Dr Mehmet Paul Bill Kathryn Joe George Jessica B. A. Tony Rasheed Henery Chowa FILZA Dr. Christine iCanay Cigdem Amber Julia Primavera 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘢 Simona Tamela Jayne Infiniti Russ Salam Ravyne Martine
Thanks, Dew for inspiring me to write this story. My conclusion: we’re all good enough! And if we make it a habit to say that more often to each other, it might help us all to kick out the virus of self-doubt.
If you want to connect, you can find me somewhere on this beautiful planet, gazing at the stars. Or we can connect via Linktree.
© Désirée Driesenaar
