When you find the courage to believe in yourself, you make more confident decisions. Only then does reality change and the doors open to a path without fear, without fear of what others might say, without anxiety about what might happen. Self-confidence allows you to grow following the chosen direction.
Written and verified by the psychologist GetPersonalGrowth.
Last update: 15 November 2021
Believing in oneself means making more informed decisions. When you have confidence in your resources, in your experience and keep your values ​​and needs in mind, you rediscover your strengths, those with which to make your way.
Only in that moment do we give ourselves an opportunity for growth and development, building our ideal reality, overcoming obstacles, shaking off weights, leaving behind what hurts to enrich ourselves with what could come.
At first glance, it seems easy. We even like the way it sounds. After all, in personal growth, the first rule is to learn to believe in yourself. Yet, even if we have read books, studies and articles on the subject, it continues to be that exam that remains for us to pass.
Behind many mood disorders there is a lack of confidence, self-esteem and the underestimation of one's person. Self-esteem is unstable, the mind is dominated by an internal dialogue accustomed to self-censorship, to undergo constant criticism. Few times a person has confidence in himself, when all he lives with is remains and a profound psychological deterioration.
At the same time, one aspect we need to take into account is that a person does not stop trusting himself overnight. In reality, it is a situation that has dragged on for years or even decades.
Generally, it is during childhood and adolescence that we begin to embrace a series of negative self-affirmations and patterns or misunderstandings that make our strengths and merits waver. The need to identify these wounds and to rebuild ourselves is paramount to achieving happiness
It is when you doubt you are flying that you lose the power to fly forever.
-J.M. Barrie-
Believe in yourself: the path of growth requires an inner transformation
Abraham Maslow, one of the leading psychologists of the XNUMXth century, used to say that people have two options in life. The first is to choose the path in safety, the second is to progress in growth.
If we want to feel satisfied and fulfilled, we must opt ​​for growth, bearing in mind that such a bet requires us to rise above our fears.
Although it is not exactly an easy task, in order to grow and develop according to one's dreams, objectives and needs, it will be necessary disable a good number of limiting beliefs, as well as irrational ideas and stagnant fears of which one is hardly aware.
In reality there are many people who during therapy bring out such a reality, within which they limit themselves to surviving, clearly below their pure human potential. But why is all this happening?
Experiences that at an early age diminished our potential
“I know that when I believe in myself, I feel happier and more confident. Nevertheless, I am unable to recognize something special in me, I am not skilled nor did I do something to be proud of. I've always felt like a stranger in my own shoes ”. This type of reasoning is quite common in those who suffer from lack of emotional support since childhood.
The lack of approval, of certain affection, of that trust on the part of parents that enables us to achieve something, to express ourselves, to decide, to be autonomous and to feel courageous, are at the basis of this problem, of this evident lack of self-esteem and confidence. It is very difficult to believe in yourself when no one has listened to our emotions.
The psychology of belief
In 2016, a very interesting study was published in Scientific Reports. Dr. Jonas Kaplan and his colleagues discovered, using magnetic resonance imaging, the effect of beliefs on our brains. Whether it is political beliefs, unfounded ideas that we value, any belief is protected by a complex neuronal network.
These connections are supported by areas of the brain with emotional functions. This makes it more difficult for a person to understand her enormous potential in her, and that she should believe in herself more when she has to make a decision.
Consequently, it is not enough for them to insist on telling us what we are worth. The authentic change it happens when we ourselves reformulate those beliefs, those false, harmful and wearing patterns.
Belief in yourself helps you make bold decisions
Belief in yourself allows you to make better decisions. The moment we finally findand the courage to question our deepest beliefs and the ideas that others have instilled in us, we move away from stagnant fears, we get rid of the worm of insecurities.
It is not easy to put into practice an inner cleansing with which to eliminate the seeds full of criticism that others have instilled in us to the point of convincing us that we can't do it, that we don't know, that we don't deserve this and that.
We all have potential. We all have the right to take a position in life that allows us to leave behind the set of ideas that have limited us so much. The time has come to grow, to choose the path of self-realization, as Abraham Maslow argued. And we all have enough resources within us to do so.
You have to believe in yourself, stop give importance to circumstances to become aware of the fact that our decisions define us. They allow us to overcome difficulties to find the happiness we desire, dream, deserve.
