What do you struggle with the most? Wow, that is a loaded question for many of us. We are all healing from something, right? The healing is a struggle in itself.
I must say that my biggest struggle is and was self-esteem. Self-esteem accompanied by self-doubt when taking the chance and putting my writings out there to the world. The self-doubt in my mind used to be that I was not good enough to write since I was not on anyone's best seller's list. I had to quickly get rid of that thinking and confront the struggle of feeling good enough to do this. I spent way too much time looking at what everyone else was doing and saying: "I wish that were me." I realized where I was and after all I had been through that it was not so bad and at the time, it was where I was supposed to be. I was trying too hard - trying too hard to be noticed; not giving myself enough credit and letting my past failures creep in and suck out all of the positive things that were going on in my life.
After going through the loss of my father, the break-up of my marriage and the building up of my confidence, it was sometimes too much to bear. So, I began using the resources that I gathered in reading books, online groups and webinars and zeroed in on the real issues - self-esteem and self-doubt. If I only stopped doubting myself and my decisions, I would be better off (so I thought). One thing that was missing throughout this process was: Faith. Faith in myself, Faith in my spirituality and having the Faith that I could get through all of this. I realized that I had to start with identifying the issue and taking the steps to remedy things along the way.
What were the steps that I took to begin this process? First, it was time alone to think, analyze, reflect and most of all pray. Second, I needed something to get me through the healing process and since I love to write - I believe writing is healing. Some of my favorite bloggers and writers talk about how writing is healing and I truly believe this and practice this on a daily basis. Next, I searched for resources to help me - someone to talk to and also online resources once I identified the areas of focus for myself. Being honest about what I was feeling in the areas of self-doubt came into focus the more I wrote. A recent blog post found here talks about honesty and writing about it was easy, I also had to practice what I was preaching.
One of my favorite blogs is The Positivity Blog and there are some great resources to help you as it has helped me on the road to better thinking and having good self-esteem. I hope you enjoy these resources and don't forget about your self-care in the process. Leave a comment below and let me know what you think about this post. I love hearing from you and I respond to every comment. ;-)
