Love that. It’s so hard for me to distinguish my self-doubt from who I truly am and what I can truly accomplish.

Maybe someday I’ll find the mental discipline to start a meditation practice, but with my busy brain, I don’t hold out much hope. I admire your self-proclaimed crunchy granola-ness.

I have found that a great way to crush self-doubt is to do something completely unrelated to work. Go out and look at the stars. Bake something. Play with my daughter. Do anything that will take my mind off of my projects. Sleeping works too.

And after I do something different for a while, I come back to my work with a refreshed mind and spirit. I find practicing mindfulness as taught in Zen Buddhism very helpful too, but then again, I’m pretty crunchy granola

But sometimes, self-doubt just needs to be confronted head on, as you suggest. It does dissipate if you really start to break it down and analyze it.

Knowing you have done your best with the resources you have (internal and external) gives you some room to breathe. It’s good advice.

I used to remind myself when giving a workshop or talk that I was the expert. And it’s true – no one knows my work better than I do. The audience has come to learn about my paintings, which shows support and interest- another boost to my self esteem. With workshops, I’m definitely the pro. The participants don’t know the technique which is why they’ve come to me. This has worked so well for me that I rarely need to use it anymore. Of course, fear and self doubt come up in other places in my life and work….but not as much as they used to.

Age might play a role here, too. I really don’t care as much anymore. I do the work for me and if someone else likes it great. Of course, that’s not a good attitude if you’re trying to make money (which I am).

Visual artists set themselves up for criticism every time we have a show. This can be paralyzing. I used to vacillate from thinking the work was good (even great sometimes) to believing it was shit. Now, I have a mantra that I repeat if I get panicky (which once again I have to say doesn’t happen as much as it used to). I remind myself that I have done the best I can at this point in my career. That seems to settle the demons.

Elephants. Yes. They need to be herded and sent to greener pastures.