Hi Kyniska,

Of all the things you wrote, this one sentence stood out for me:

“But when I think about having faith in myself, it always meant to me that I wouldn’t mess things up, or at least that I would mess up way less.”

Considering the number of decisions we make every day, it would be safe to say that everyone mess things up on a regular basis. The reason why we tend to hold ourselves to impossible standards is because of that little voice in our mind that criticizes everything we do without offering anything positive in return. It prevents us from being vulnerable to other people, undermines our achievements and tells us that it’s ok to stay miserable as long as we don’t have to risk feelings of failure and disappointment. Wouldn’t life be a lot more productive if the voice in our mind is a cheerleader instead of a judge?

To me, having faith is about having the courage to make a mess of things, learn from it and have a laugh about it afterwards. When we make decisions, we can only go by what information is avaialble at the time and as a result, there is no such thing as the “right” decision. Instead kicking yourself for making msitakes, see them as lessons and an investment to your future self. I cannot count the number of occassions that I felt terrible in the moment but when I look back, I realised that’s exactly what I needed to move forward. If you want to silence that voice of judgement get out of your head and live in your body. Feel the sunlight on your skin, smell the fresh air and listen to the rhythm of you heart through excercises. You will find that life is a lot better when you are an active participant.