The Two Faces of Doubt

Doubt is a funny thing. We often times doubt ourselves. Doubt we are capable of what we say we are. Doubt we know what we think we know. Doubt we can accomplish the goals we have set for ourselves. Doubt we can live up to other peoples expectations.




This kind of doubt can be a huge issue if we don't get it under control. I'm not saying that we should always hold our heads up and if we try real hard we'll persevere. If any of you have met me, you know I'm not that guy. I'm simply saying that when it comes to our own abilities and knowledge, our own drive, our own lives; no ones knows us better than we know ourselves. If you have doubts about yourself, examine those doubts, and find out why you have them. Most of the time you'll realize that those doubts are misguided. You are capable of doing what you say you would. You do know what you think you know. You can accomplish your goals for yourself. You don't need to live up to other peoples expectations, you only need to live up to your own.




This is not the funny thing about doubt. The funny thing about doubt is that we rarely doubt other people. We may not always believe 100% of what we hear, but when it comes to doubting others, to challenging what we are being told or shown, we more times than not take the "experts" word on things. But these are the times we need to doubt most.




Now again, don't take literally every word I say here. We don't have to assume everybody and everything is wrong or lying to us or some sort of snake in the grass who's trying to get us. All I'm saying is that when we are presented with information, whether it be facts, answers to personal questions, information regarding what a person will and will not accomplish, we need to take a look at that information and see what we know about it. Research it further, find out how that fits in to what we already know, find out how that fits into our personal philosophy, and make our own decisions based on the information given to us. If we do this we will find that when it comes to other people, the situation is rarely black and white. Sometimes they are right. Sometimes they are wrong. Sometimes they are misguided. Sometimes they understand what we're going through better than we do. One thing we can usually count on though is that most of the time, they'll surprise us.




Like I said, doubt is a funny thing. It can be a huge liability, or a great asset. We just have to teach ourselves the ability to identify the good doubt from the bad doubt and be able to react to it when we see it.