How To Combat Your Inner Critic

The subtle whispers that steal sweet moments from an experience is the objective of your inner critic. It destroys your sense of worthiness by saying…you’re too fat, you’re not smart enough, or I can’t believe you said that. This inner dialogue sneaks up on you before you even have a chance to negate it or defend your position. Criticism and negative self-talk become the storyline you hear and the only one that sticks in your head if you allow it to go unchecked for too long. However, the power of your inner critic can be irreversible in its effort to reduce your self-worth and self-esteem if you are conscious and diligent of its deception. Here are some ways for you to become more aware of how your inner critic speaks to you.

Ways To Combat Your Inner Critic

1. Listen Attentively To Your Inner Critic

Simply becoming aware of your inner self talk can bring your attention to the messages    and stories you are saying to yourself throughout the day. What are your thoughts when accomplish something you set out to do? Or how do you respond internally when you   mess up or find yourself in a learning situation? Are you kind to yourself or are you    critical? Would you say those things to a child or your best friend?

2. Become Aware Of Negative Habits

Habits are created sometimes without conscious awareness. Often, we pick up on negative self-talk or behaviors from family or friends and take them on as our own over time. Before you know it, these negative habits begin to shape our mindset and destroy self-esteem. By becoming aware of these negative habits and replacing them with positive ones, the inner critic has less of a chance in sabotaging self-esteem and confidence. Acknowledging patterns and habits is a good place to start when the goal is to break bad habits that feed your inner critic.

3. Reframe From Judgement

When you find yourself judging others you will typically find that you are in judgement of yourself as well. Whether spoken out loud or whispered in silence under your breath, if you express your opinion about something or someone in a critical or unforgiving way it can be damaging and impact how you feel mentally and emotionally.

4. Build Confidence Within Yourself

Building confidence in your decisions can squash any need for self-criticism and negative self-talk. Your inner critic will have a hard time competing with a healthy dose of self-esteem and good strong decision-making skills. A confident person expresses a level of value about themselves and is willing to defend it when anything or anyone tries to take it away. Work on building a level of confidence that expresses a healthy dose of positivity.

5. Stop The Blame Game

Blaming others or yourself is one of the favorite past times of the inner critic. It brings on feelings of guilt, shame, and unworthiness that are unnecessary in the grand scheme of things. Taking responsibility for whatever you are blaming another for will bring peace of mind, build character, and ultimately help you feel better in the long run. The inner critic loves to point the finger at others and give a shout out to its friend the ego.

 Final Thoughts

The inner critic is quick to criticize and point out negativity. The best way to obtain some sort of relief is to become aware and then put a stop to that internal dialogue as soon as possible. Responding with an alternative positive self-talk dialogue instead of going down the rabbit hole will stop it from spinning out of control, making you feel bad about yourself. Yang Kang Chan said it best, “Maybe self-criticism isn’t the problem, but rather how ae react to the criticism that is the problem”.