The Truth About Inner Critics

On Monday, only two, two! people came to my 9:00 a.m. yoga class. That's a crazy low number for me. 

In the past that would have struck down my confidence. 

But I recognized it was really cold that morning, especially for Northern California. It was hard enough for me to get out of bed, let alone if someone didn't have to show up and take class. 

Of the two people in class one of them is a long time friend that hadn't been able to take my class in months and months and months so I was super stoked that she (Sara) was there.

Before class started Sara asked me, “how are you doing?” 

She meant it in the actual how are you doing, not in the I'm being polite way. When I responded I let out kind of this heavy sigh so of course Sara picked up on that and asked, “What's going on?” 

I said, “Did I tell you I'm writing a book?” 

Sara paused for a moment, half laughed and said “No, and of course you are.” 

I had this moment of realization in reading Sara's energy as she said that. In my mind I thought, “Wait, she 100% believes not only that I'm writing a book cuz that sounded like a totally normal thing to come out of my mouth to her, that I'm also going to succeed. What?!” 

That got me thinking about how our own minds, our own inner critics, are often the biggest obstacles towards us doing the things we want to do. 

The people around us don't live inside our heads, so they believe waaaaaaaaay more in us than we do because they don't have our inner critic nagging them. Our inner critics focus on telling us s*** about ourselves not other people. 

When I try to do something new or scary there are six or seven voices in my head that try to hold me back. 

When I can detach from my inner critic, I make space for my inner wisdom and intuition. Those voices are deeper, kinder, and often don’t communicate in words, which can make it harder to hear them. 

The critical voices tend to be more squeaky, more annoying and constantly in my head. 

The deeper inner knowing voices come through in moments of stillness. 

Like when I meditate, stare off into space, do yoga, journal, go for a walk, and sometimes just before I fall asleep. 

I shared with Sara that I feel like I have so much to do for my book because I’m not just writing a book...

I’m launching a kickstarter to fund the publishing of my book, along with a companion journal, and because I’m a bit extra I want to start my own publishing company too. Sooooooo that’s a lot of material for my inner critic to squeak about. 

The truth is, your inner critic gets squeakier when you don't know the rules, boundaries, or parameters for the things you want to do. 

That pops up most when you want to do something you’ve never done before. 

Your brain doesn’t have a reference to know what that experience will be like, so its default is to freak out and do its darndest to stop you from trying. 

So here I am stepping into a crazy scary thing that I've never done before. 

I could go sit in a corner with a fuzzy blanket and pretend like the world doesn't exist and that everything is too scary. That would suck more than trying, learning, and doing. I want to experience life, I don’t want to sit this one out. 

What crazy scary thing that you've never done before are you wanting to do? 

Give yourself permission to dream about it and when your inner critic wants to take over, give it some popcorn and an ipad so you can dream a little more. 

If you want support or guidance with that crazy scary thing that you've never done before, then I’m your gal. That’s the work I do as a Catalyst Coach. I help you pursue the crazy scary things that you’ve never done before, especially when you don't even know what it is that you want. You'll get clarity, understanding, and relentless encouragement to light as much fire under your butt as you need. Curious? Let’s chat. 

You are a dynamic human with brilliant thoughts and ideas. You’ve got this. 

If you want support or guidance with that crazy scary thing that you've never done before, then let’s chat.

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