When doubt lingers too long… the stink is awful.

How many people are held back from awesomeness by their own doubt? A lot, right? It’s a lot. Doubt is so normal we eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Let’s have something fresh.

Doubt holds grip on us in two key ways: first, it isolates us, and second, it steals our identity. Doubt might be a sociopath. Don’t you want it to stop hogging your joy? I do.

When in doubt, (see what I did there?), we can address the two ways it's gripping us. First, everyone feels doubt, a shidazzle ton of the time. It’s annoying and invasive, but at least it’s a common thread, called being human. You are not alone. Ever. People all over the world are right there with you, in the doubt.

Second, your doubt is not who you are. It has nothing to do with who you are, but it is keeping you from becoming more of what you can be. It won’t let you shine, take risks, grow in new ways, breathe from your lit up soul. It cripples us at the knees and tricks us into thinking we are the doubt. And the doubt is so lame. So in our minds, we = doubt = lame. Not a winning equation.

Draw your doubt. Imagine it as a character. Icky sticky gremlin, boorish bother, or just, Jeff. (No offense to the Jeff’s out there.) Name it and see it. Suddenly it has a name different from you, and it looks different than you. There, you just recovered your stolen identity back from the thief.

Doubt is part of being alive, but not part of who you are. We feel isolation, but it actually weaves us together in this human experience. Phew, the air feels fresher already!