"Action will remove the doubts that theory cannot solve."
~Tehyi Hsieh~
Self-doubt is a slippery deal. It tells us we are kidding ourselves. It asks us who do we think we are? It eats at us from the inside like termites and gnaws away at the foundations of our hopes and dreams. Sometimes self-doubt has the voice of our parents and sometimes the voice of our peers. And sometimes it is in our own voice exclusively, but it is always mocking and always shaming.
Who are we to think we have a chance? Or that we deserve to enjoy our lives? Or that it is ok to live in the manner that best suits our own souls if it clashes with cultural standards, or with the standards of those who know us best?
Other people will readily tell us what we ought to do and how we ought to behave and what we ought to try, and it takes a lot of courage and character to stand square in the river of doubts and hold our own against the current. But hold our own we must, or we will get knocked down and pummeled by the rocks. And if we can manage to cross the river, then goodness and beauty await us on the far side.
I quiet the voices of self-doubt within me by continuing steadily along the path that calls me.
