Challenge #2- Name Your Fear

I have bad news for you.

That voice you hear in your head is not always on your side.

She plants seeds of doubt & fear.

Challenge #2 has two parts.

1. Give your inner critic a name.

I call mine Princess Sissy-Pants.  Katie calls hers Mr. Stupid-Head. 

(please note, her inner voice is a dumb boy)  You can name yours anything you like.

Why do I think you need to give yours a name?  

Because I want you to recognize the difference between you and your fears.

Did you get that?  You ARE NOT your fear.

You see, I believe that if we could look down into the deepest part of your heart we would see that you know who you are.  You know that God doesn't make junk.  He doesn't fail.  He has already created you to be everything you need to be.  How could you be anything but beautiful?

2. Practice telling your inner critic to shut up.

Princess Sissy-Pants is sneaky & underhanded.  She sucker punches me.  I can always count on her to show up around Mile 8 of a half-marathon.  She sounds something like this:

"You're looking rough, why don't you take a break?"

"You really didn't train enough for this anyway.  You could quit anytime."

"Some people are already finished. You've always been slow."

"Just give up."

Now I ask you, doesn't that sound like something I would say to myself?

So I need to be ready to tell her off.

"Listen Princess, I'm busy here. I'm still putting one foot in front of the other, so I'll not be quitting any time soon.  Besides, you're the one who said I shouldn't show my face on the internet without makeup and that turned out to be no big deal.  You didn't think I could handle the Budgie Barn & I did.
You know nothing about me.  So do me a favor and shut it."

You can tell your inner critic to shut up in your head.  

When she gets really loud, don't be afraid to just tell her out loud.  Remind her about the times when she was wrong in the past. 

I told Princess Sissy-Pants to shut up OUT LOUD during a race once.  

I really hope that other runner believed me when I told her that I wasn't talking to her.