Build Trust in Yourself
It’s no secret that literally everyone has an opinion about your chronic illness - healthcare professionals, family, friends, random strangers, some days it truly feels never-ending.
Having trust in yourself and your experience can silence any doubt that all that chatter from others puts in your head.
This is fucking crucial.
Not trusting yourself leads to questioning your own reality, which can snowball into decreased confidence in yourself and your ability to navigate stressful situations or big emotions. That may leave you more worried about what others think and looking to them for answers vs trusting yourself to do what is best for you. Not to mention that continually disregarding your own truth can grow into larger feelings of unworthiness and that is no good.
So what do you do?
Here are my top 6 tips to help grow trust in yourself - as always take what resonates and leave the rest.
Keep daily small promises to show yourself that you can trust your own word.
These promises can be tiny - like drinking a glass of water when you get up. The more you do it, the more it reinforces that your word does matter. It makes it real clear that you can trust yourself and that you deserve to do things that are good for you.
Set boundaries and keep them.
Whether it’s a boundary with a friend or with yourself, hold strong. This has a similar effect as keeping promises to yourself.
Treat yourself like you would a friend.
I feel like a broken record writing this again, but it’s SO important. It creates a safe and empowering space for you to exist in.
Focus on what you can do vs. what you can’t.
By doing this, not only will you see more opportunity over the bs, you will find that you accomplish more things. This increases those badass feelings that fuel empowerment and trust in yourself to do (or try to do) whatever the thing is.
Hype yourself up.
Be your own biggest cheerleader. Since you are keeping those small promises (see tip #1), you know your words matter. Use them to your advantage and tell yourself what a fucking badass you are over and over and over again.
Reflect on your past.
You’re here which means that you have made it through every twist and turn life has thrown at you. That’s a pretty fucking big accomplishment. Take a moment to think about all the shit you have survived, soak in all that strength and trust yourself along your journey.
Start small when implementing these tips and focus on being consistent over perfect.
You got this!
