Insecure Again?

Have you ever felt insecure in the light of having done your best?  I hate feeling insecure especially when I’ve worked so hard to try and deal with those things that make the ground shift under my feet and caused me to worry and question my character.  Recently I was challenged over a matter where I found myself with that sinking feeling in my stomach and the rising voice of internal accusation resounding in my ears of not being good enough and having got it wrong again.  Have you ever felt like that? Like you’ve got it wrong for no apparent reason?

Overcoming insecurities can be a real challenge depending on how long we’ve been influenced by them.  Learning how to ‘take a step back’ and take an objective look can be a difficult thing for us as often we’re dealing with the emotional turbulence of how we feel.  Insecurities hold us back from accomplishing new things, taking risks, making or improving relationships.  So, where are our insecurities rooted?  Where do they start out?  I would suggest that they begin life in our minds quickly taking root in our everyday thinking and living.  We begin to worry where we should be confident, we agonise where we should rejoice.

I like this verse from Phillipians (Message Version) “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.”

Worry is a constant outworking of insecurity!  Am I good enough, have I done well enough, will they like me enough? So, with this in mind here are some suggestions in dealing with your insecurities.

1. Stop Over-Thinking Situations! – The ‘why did they say that’ and the ‘what did they mean by that’ can be over analysed and played back time and time again.  If we’re not careful it is easy to take some meaningless interaction and blow it up into some significant event that causes a behavior response that outworks itself in negative self-talk causing moodiness and withdrawal.
2. Allow Yourself to be Human – We all make mistakes, we all get it wrong from time to time but ‘beating’ oneself up isn’t healthy or appropriate.  Micah 7:8 says “When I fall I shall arise!”  What good advice,  be confident with who you are and as that confidence shows in your life, words and action people will be drawn to you.
3. Learn to Enjoy the Experience – Life is about taking the opportunities that come along.  If you don’t jump on board because your insecurities won’t let you then life becomes very limited indeed.  Quite often we find that once ‘on board’ we perform better than expected, make relationships that were previously thought not possible and achieve goals that we believed were out of our reach.

So think on this famous quote and let your insecurities go! “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”