If I work and study myself to the point that I’m anxious, drained, and overwhelmed, maybe then I will make a wall strong enough to hide the fact I’m not that smart.
This is a limiting belief, and we humans are full of them.
The limiting belief here is that I am dumb. It manifests in my life as a distortion. To cover up the fact I believe I am dumb, I will work myself to exhaustion. Nothing is ever enough because at the end of the day, deep down, I still believe I am dumb.
How do limiting beliefs show up in your life?
Where are you overcompensating?
Are you constantly trying to lose weight because your deepest fear is being loved exactly as you are? Do you have a belief that you are unlovable?
Ask yourself, what is driving me? What is driving you to constantly diet? Typically it boils down to a fear. What are we so afraid of?
Finding limiting beliefs takes time and effort. I typically discover mine through journaling or meditation. Self-healing requires intentional practice, patience, and TIME. This isn’t something you think about as you distract yourself with Instagram before falling asleep.
I mean you can do that, but you will find yourself swirling in that same cycle of ‘why isn’t this working for me?’
Our limiting beliefs are typically passed down to us, and when we confront them, we often realize they are not even true to us.
A limiting belief that creeps up for me is that I am dumb. It comes from grade school where I genuinely believed I was. The thing is I was never dumb, I had depression, and no coping skills to enable me to apply myself.
When starting this blog, I held this fear of being exposed for the dummy I am. It took time, and lots of journaling to discover where this anxiety was coming from. When I figured out where this fear was coming from, I realized I don’t even think that it’s true. I actually think I’m rather bright.
Even though I think I’m rather bright, I still had this fear controlling me, and it was manifesting as imposter syndrome.
When the brain is holding onto a fear, it looks for anything to use as evidence to prove itself right. My blog post didn’t get many reads? My brain is like “BINGO TOLD YA!! Everyone can see you’re dumb!!”.
The brain doesn’t have the awareness to say “Well there were these other factors that are far more likely than that today, everyone gathered together and collectively decided you’re too dumb to give advice.”.
We don’t even know how our fears are controlling us until we take the time to confront them. They manifest as insecurities, overcompensation, imposter syndrome, and self doubt.
Check your beliefs, call them out. Ask yourself, what am I so afraid of? As you explore, ask yourself this over and over and over again.
Oftentimes our brains are working overtime to protect us from something we don’t actually need to be protected from.
Healing is not quick, it is not linear, and it is sloppy. You may have one big fat limiting belief or you may have tons of little ones. Keep getting lost in the wonder and awe of your complex self. There are no negative side effects. Moving forward is your only responsibility.
Self Like 