Moving from Self-Doubt to Self-Trust

ABC of Mental Health

Author

Shiromi Chaturvedi
February 06, 2025

Hello! Welcome to another edition of the ABC of Mental Health, your partner in the journey to better mental health—one newsletter at a time. This week’s theme is Moving from Self-Doubt to Self-Trust, because confidence isn’t built overnight, but step by step, as we learn to believe in ourselves. We bring this to your inbox this Thursday to encourage your journey towards trust and confidence.

One relevant recommendation:

Strengths Journal: This reflective exercise aims to help you identify your strengths, explore past successes, identify personal qualities, and use them to meet your current goals. Taking small steps toward this can help build on self-trust.

  • List three personal strengths you appreciate in yourself. Recall a time you doubted yourself but succeeded—what strengths helped you?

  • What’s one small step you can take today to trust yourself more?

  • How do you know when you're acting from self-trust versus self-doubt?

Two Quotes on Self-Trust and Self-Confidence:

Martha Beck, sociologist and author of The Way of Integrity, reminds us of the power of listening to ourselves:

"Your body and mind know the truth. When you silence self-doubt and listen inward, you’ll find that your instincts have been right all along."

Mel Robbins, motivational speaker and author of The 5 Second Rule, highlights action as the antidote to doubt:

"You’re never going to feel ready. Confidence isn’t something you wait for—it’s something you create by taking action despite your fears."

Three TherapyShorts from TST

  1. Inner Critic vs. Inner Guide: Self-doubt often sounds like a harsh inner critic, telling us we’re not good enough. Imagine your inner critic as just one part of you—not your whole self. It likely developed to protect you from failure, rejection, or disappointment. Instead of pushing it away, try to get curious: What is it afraid of? What does it need? Self-trust, on the other hand, sounds like a supportive inner guide. The next time you hear self-doubt creeping in, pause and ask: Would I say this to a friend? If not, reframe the thought. Instead of "I always mess up," try "I’m learning and growing through this experience."

  2. Refrain from Over-Analysing: Self-doubt thrives in over-analysis. If you struggle with making decisions, start small: choose what to eat without second-guessing or pick a weekend plan without polling everyone. The more you practice trusting your choices, the stronger your confidence will become. Over time, you’ll realise you don’t need outside validation—you already have the answers within you.

  3. Acknowledge and celebrate past success (even if it seems small!): Self-trust isn’t built on perfection—it’s built on evidence that you can navigate challenges. Reflect on times you’ve overcome obstacles before. Trust builds in these small moments of showing up for yourself. Maybe you handled a tough conversation, made a difficult decision, or kept going when things got hard. Writing down past wins, no matter how small, creates proof that you are capable.

A QUESTION?

What’s your biggest struggle with self-doubt?
Vote here!

Last week we asked you, Which area of compassionate accountability do you find most challenging and the responses were… (drumroll please) 

Love and light,

The Social Therapist

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