5 Unexpected Dangers of Self-Doubt

As one of the greatest obstacles that hinders humans from fulfilling their dreams, self-doubt is what almost all of us struggle with at some point in our lives. Dozens of experts have written widely on how to overcome this scourge, and philosophers have thousands of quotes on self-doubt attributed to their names. This shows the extent to which self-doubt has become a pervasive issue for humans.

If you’re battling with that persistent voice that keeps telling you how things could go wrong, how you may not have worked it out right, then you’re dealing with self-doubt. Self-doubt can be dangerous to your overall wellness; it is not only physiologically harmful but also harmful in terms of living productively and with emotional and spiritual wellness.

The following are some of the dangers of self-doubt you should know about. I believe if you discover how self-doubt contributes to most of the productivity-related issues we face at work and in life, finding the voice to say NO to it won’t be as hard.

Self Doubt Weakens Your Self Will

Self will is still one of the strongest gift we inherited from God.

Being able to determine that we want or do not want something and being able to go ahead with our decision is not an ability all creatures enjoy. Where self-doubt becomes really dangerous to your self will is when it makes you seek encouragement or an excuse for why you can’t still move forward or for why you’re not able to accomplish a goal.

The problem with seeking encouragement is it makes you lose your self-esteem. Most of the bravest and most successful people today needed no one to encourage them, in fact most had no one to do so. Giving excuses on the other hand makes you embrace failure, which ultimately crushes your self will.

If you’re looking for a reason to kill that self-doubt, think of how it could damage your self will.

Self-Doubt Breeds Procrastination

Could self-doubt really be the reason the majority of people procrastinate?

Procrastination may seem harmless at first, but when self-doubt begins to creep in and you’re consistently considering starting that first paragraph later, then you’ll begin a long cycle of procrastination that will prevent you from getting anything done.

Hesitation is one of the grandchildren of self-doubt. When people are hesitant about doing something, they procrastinate until they miss out on that opportunity and find an excuse to justify themselves.

Opens you up to regrets and self pity

When you fail at something, it’s natural to feel emotional about it. The emotional feelings often associated with failure include fear, disappointment, regret, pain and anger. However, many have mastered how to turn these emotions into their strengths and it helps them to move forward.

Self pity and regret will do the opposite.

By giving room for self-doubt, you’ll only allow the two least helpful emotions that follow failure to take control. Regret will make you wish you hadn’t started. Self pity will prevent you from moving ahead.

To prevent self-doubt from keeping your stagnant, fight it and prevent it from breeding other low emotions such as regret and self-pity.

Self-Doubt Kills Personal Growth

Self-doubt prevents us from experiencing personal growth.

We often experience our greatest moment of personal growth and fulfillment when we give ourselves the freedom to pursue that which we desire without the fear of failure or worries over what other people might think about us.

When you begin to doubt your ability to achieve your dreams and fulfill your desires, you’re consciously preventing yourself from experiencing growth.

Hinders Creativity

Creativity is one of the greatest natural resource tools we humans can always tap into. It’s what helps us to create the most precious things we admire and work hard to achieve our dreams. It’s what helps us to design a way out of unfavorable situations.

But self-doubt will effectively shut down our ability to think creatively.

Self-doubt makes you question the rationality behind your ideas and prevents you from being bold enough to show your most creative ideas. At its worst, it makes you totally unable to see a way forward in tricky situations.

Conclusion

Doubt is a part of being human. This is a normal experience that we’ll face as we navigate through the several stages of our lives, but it should not be given the power to determine our success. By recognizing the dangers of self-doubt, you can fight its ill-effects more easily.

Are you battling with self-doubt? Will knowing about the dangers of self-doubt make it easier for you to overcome these challenges? If you have any personal experiences with self-doubt, or ideas about dealing with self-doubt, we’d love you to share in the comments below.

Featured photo credit: Majo Gordillo via flickr.com

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