Hello ! 👋 how are you doing ?
As you have seen from my previous posts I touch on a range of issues, focussing on the Power Platform mainly but also on issues around mental health and well being.
I’ve also been pretty open on my anxiety, and how it affects me and people around me. As we come to the end of the year, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on a main change in the way I think that I think would be beneficial to others who suffer from anxiety or imposter syndrome.
The number 1 change in my mindset compared to the start and the end of this year, is trusting my gut feelings. In the first half of the year, being honest, I just didn’t do it. I didn’t trust myself to do it, it was a range of things that contributed to that. I thought I wasn’t good enough at various things, so I would always question myself and get myself into a cycle of “what ifs”.
This is a dangerous place to be as I was guessing at the outcomes of what could happen rather than what was happening right “now” and what was in my control. Quite often I found myself at the bottom of that spiral, you know the basement level where there is no where else to go. I had to find a way to get myself out of there and/or stop it from happening at all.
I had a conversation with a good friend, and he explained how it’s good to trust your gut. Your gut feeling is usually right. You are basing your gut feelings on what you know subconsciously and it is usually right. If it’s not then normally the phrase “no one died, nothing is on fire” can also be applied. It’s always the smaller things that got me into the spiral, larger issues (like giving my daughter an epi-pen injection) I didn’t even flinch. It’s like my gut feeling was so deep in my subconscious, even primal, that only in extreme circumstances could I activate it. I changed that way of thinking and just “went with it”.
Not only did I apply it to work but I applied it to other parts of home life too and the anxiety started getting less and less.
I found myself truly believing in myself for the first time in ages, getting confident in all aspects of my life and that new found confidence led to exciting opportunities.
I feel I am now working at the best I’ve ever been, building long lasting relationships and more importantly knowing my limitations and being honest with what they are.
Do I have any advice for anyone reading this ? Yes. I know that I’m ever going to get rid of my anxiety 100%. But trusting my gut has had a huge positive affect on my mental health. It’s stopped me spiralling out of control and helping me understand my true self.