Lately, I’ve been downplaying my artistic endeavors. What usually happens is someone says I’m artistic and then I remind them that I haven’t done painting or drawing in several years. I often correct them by saying I’m a creative person because as we have noted, Creativity can be anything. Though it doesn’t downplay what I do it doesn’t tell the whole story either. What I fail to capture with this new descriptor is the work I often do, but overlook.

Some of my artistic endeavors often include:

• Graphic design
• Photography
• Creating videos

And that is just from running late-start.com. Outside of that, there is a myriad of art-centered activities that I do, but don’t consider “high brow enough” to be considered art.

why do I do this? why do I lack the confidence others can see in me and I can sometimes see in myself? why can’t I appreciate and advocate for all the good that I do?

Why this matters

If you are like me it may not just be art and the qualities of being artistic that troubles you. I know I’m not alone in not being able to give myself credit for the work I do. I do have the awareness that I’m slowly beginning to belittle myself, a thing that I have been struggling with for years. But that awareness piece is critical to me. Being able to mark when I do it has helped to combat that negative thinking pattern. How? By remembering to care for myself when this comes up instead of tearing myself down in an aggressive spiral of negative thinking.

How Do I Become a More Positive and Empowered Individual?

So much of the world diminishes our spark, we don’t need to do it to ourselves. One of the ways that have helped me is to set a timer on my phone and have an allotted time of 2 minutes for self-pity or self-doubt. If it comes up later, I force myself to list one positive thing about myself to replace or combat that negative thought.

If that doesn’t work try listing out your positive traits. I know that this is a classic that most therapist use as a go-to to boost your self-esteem. It’s a bit campy, but it works! I try to go for 22 because it’s my favorite number, but if you are new to this try 5 or 10 if you get to 3 and can’t think of more that’s okay! Here’s a secret: Having confidence doesn’t make you invulnerable to criticism or self-doubt, it just makes it harder for those words to penetrate your core. Confidence is a muscle that you build and much like any muscle, it provides support and protection to our more vulnerable areas.

What if I need more support?

If you can’t get out of a negative thinking spiral and it’s affecting lots of areas of your life talk to your doctor, he may recommend you see a therapist or can help you find care in your area.