Recently, I was talking with my therapist about this strange hesitation I’ve been feeling—like, I know I deserve certain things, but I just can’t bring myself to ask. My mind immediately went to, "Maybe I have a confidence problem?" It felt like the obvious conclusion.
So I’m sitting there, telling my therapist, “I think I have a confidence problem.” And they go, “Why do you think that?” I explained how I find it incredibly difficult to ask for things in situations where I should feel empowered to. Their response? “You actually seem pretty confident to me.”
At that moment, I’m just sitting there, like what do you mean I’m confident? In my head, I was almost begging for them to tell me something was off, that I had some deeper issue to work on. But they didn’t. “Your confidence is intact,” they said.
Here’s the kicker: sometimes we want to hear that we're broken. It’s easier to pin everything on a flaw than to sit with the discomfort of knowing that maybe we’re not broken after all. Maybe it’s not about confidence or worth. What if the real issue isn’t what we think is wrong, but how we’ve been taught to perceive the problem?
I’m not here to drag you through my personal therapy sessions, but I want you to think about this: What if you knew that you weren’t broken? How would that shift your perspective?
You’re just starting out—whether in life, your career, or a new endeavour—and maybe what you're feeling is just part of the process. Anxiety, fear, hesitation—they’re not indicators of brokenness; they’re just feelings. Nothing is inherently wrong with you. Feeling broken doesn’t mean you are broken. And there’s power in recognizing that.
I’m glad I could share this with you because I think we need to remind ourselves that being human comes with a whole spectrum of emotions, none of which necessarily define our value.
So, did this resonate with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
- Greatdorlin wrote this (as always, just the way I sign off)