Sometimes as writers, artists and creative types, the ultimate challenge is in believing in ourselves. In fact, it seems to be a skill set that few have mastered.

I’m not talking about arrogance. There are plenty of people who can puff themselves up to appear like they have loads of self-confidence and believe in themselves. But they are often revealed to be paper cut-outs with no real substance.
 
Real belief in yourself comes from knowing yourself. I think it was Plato who said: “Know thyself.” And it is in knowing ourselves that we can develop true self-respect and confidence. If we are truthful with ourselves, we know that we humans can be both incredibly creative and incredibly destructive (to self and sometimes others). We know that we are made up of both positive and negative, darkness and light, yin and yang.

Belief in yourself is about knowing that you’re not perfect and you never will be. It’s about having the ability, for the most part, to control your negativity and claim your light. Belief in yourself is about getting in touch with a sense of purpose, a reason to be on this planet, and a desire to put something good and lasting out into the world. It’s about seeing yourself with a non-judgmental, compassionate eye.

Ultimately, believing in yourself is about forgiving yourself for being human.

Belief in yourself is often a hard-won battle. It can be long uphill climb to these new levels of self-respect that require re-education, finding new insights, making self-conscious decisions and being willing to face occasional or frequent struggles to claiming self-confidence and self-worth.

So why would we want to work this hard to simply believe in ourselves? Because I think it is the only way we will ever find any real peace in this life. In fact, the quest to believe in ourselves may very well be our most worthy pursuit.

As Marianne Williamson is so often quoted as saying:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? . . . And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

So if you can’t do it for yourself, do it for the rest of us. The world needs you!

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Check out my day job here. I help people believe in themselves.
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