The Critical Voice.
The “No, don’t do it. You’ll fail. You’ll get hurt.” voice in your head.
A lot of manic, ‘fight-through-it’, ‘get-motivated’ advice advocates a “punch that voice in the face and tell him, ‘get outta my way!'” approach to dealing with the Critical Voice, but that is all wrong.
The Critical Voice is not your enemy. It’s your evolutionary mentor, your ancestors telling you not to jump out of that tree- to keep your stomach full and stay in the cave because you saw that lion wandering around yesterday and it’s probably still out there. It’s your parent, warning you not to touch the stove, not to step out into traffic without looking both ways.
The Critical voice is the sheepdog, keeping you from getting lost, keeping you safe even if it has to scare you to do it. Even if it has to bare its teeth and growl, even if it has to convince you that IT is your enemy. When in reality it is the part that loves you the most. The overbearing guardian who protects you from anything that might hurt you.
Your Critical Voice loves you, and it’s important that you love it back- love it while understanding that it is not the whole picture. It wants complete shelter for you- safety absolute.
But that is not what you want.
So learn to love the Critical voice. To listen to it, as it tells you all the things that could go wrong. Then, have the courage and compassion to lay a hand on its shoulder and tell it that it’s okay. That you understand, and that you will keep listening to it on all sorts of important things; that you will trust the voice when it tells you not to jump, or when it tells you to press the brake. Re-assure it that you’ve listened, and that you understand the risks.
And that you think the risks are worth it.
Ask the voice to trust you. If you love and trust your critical voice, it will do the same in return. Then, go forward with courage, and the knowledge you are whole. That you stand in agreement with yourself, and are filled to the brim, not with doubt, but trust.