On Young And Fabulous: Meet Your Own Gremlin

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Image by mike fischer via Flickr

This week, on the young and fabulous series, we are going to talk about your Gremlin.Yes, you read it right. You have a Gremlin in you. A Gremlin, my hot moms, is that inner voice that speaks to your self-doubt and fear. It is the voice that operates out of fear. This is the part of you that holds you back, fights and resists change, even the change that is good for you.

I remember the first time I encountered my Gremlin. I was 7 years old, and my Aunt just signed me up for a singing contest. She knows I can sing, and she wanted to build up my confidence. I was very excited about it, I practiced everyday, and looked forward to getting my prize — a trophy and a free pass to a singing workshop. I was very confident about myself, and I knew I can do it. The day of the singing contest came.  To my surprise, all my confidence vanished. There’s this nagging voice that kept telling me I’m not good enough, and there are others who are way better than me so I don’t stand a chance. So I lied to my Aunt and told her I was feeling sick and can’t make it to the contest. That was the first time I heard that voice, and sadly, it wasn’t the last time. From that time on, my Gremlin never fails to show up whenever I have great opportunities ahead of me. It tells me that I don’t deserve to be successful, completely destroys my confidence, and caused me to withdraw from a lot of opportunities.

It wasn’t until I learned how to deal with it that I started believing in myself again. Only then was I able to act on every opportunity that came my way, and fully enjoyed them.

So how do you fight your own Gremlin?

• Learn to recognize when you start hearing that inner voice that triggers your negative feelings about yourself. This voice will always try to sabotage your momentum and success, brings out fear and causes your progress to halt.
• Next, disprove or refute the Gremlin talk.  Establish a ZERO tolerance of its presence.  There’s no point in negotiating with a pack of lies that masquerades as self-talk on your own heads. Tell yourself it’s NOT true.  What’s true for you is…
• Imagine how you can remove the Gremlin from your experience — gagging it, locking it, throwing it, crushing it… be creative! Use this fantasy whenever it tries to show up!
• Regain your self confidence by reminding yourself how you’ve been successful in the past to affirm your abilities and talents.
• And finally, return to the present by focusing on the here and now.

This week, write about your own Gremlin and how it tries to sabotage you in your efforts to be successful. By following the steps listed above, develop your own plan on winning over your own Gremlin.

In closing, I’d like to share this quote I use to helps me be aware and regain power over my Gremlin whenever it shows up and tries sabotage me:

“I free myself not by trying to be free, but by simply noticing how I am imprisoning myself in the very moment I am imprisoning myself.” — Rick Carson

Related posts:

1. On Young And Fabulous: Incorporating It In Your Life
2. On Young And Fabulous: Make SMART Goals
3. On Young And Fabulous: Your Limiting Beliefs
4. On Young And Fabulous: Why Do You Want It?
5. On Young And Fabulous: Find Support