Creative People, Insecurity and Gaining Confidence

Do feelings of insecurity and self-doubt impact our creativity? Of course.

In this audio and the related articles, artists and psychologists express perspectives on our common feelings of insecurity and self-doubt – and how to improve our confidence.

Actor Annette Bening thinks we benefit from some insecurity:

“When you’re a creative person, whatever your field — writing or painting or singing, acting — there’s always a certain amount of insecurity or uncertainty or there’s a search going on and, in a way, that never really stops.”

But, she adds, “You want to be in a place of uncertainty, a place that maybe something surprising could happen.”

In a video interview, actor Jessica Chastain commented: “I had a lot of insecurities and like confidence issues when I was younger.”

From article with videos, links to resources and more: How Creative People Feel Insecure, and How to Gain Confidence.

Another comment (along with video) in the article:

Natalie Portman said in her 2015 Harvard Commencement Speech: “I’m still insecure about my own worthiness.”

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Being highly sensitive

Like a number of artists, Jessica Chastain has talked about being a highly sensitive person - and a number of psychologists and others have noted our trait or temperament can increase vulnerability to insecurity, among other experiences.

Psychotherapist and sensitivity coach Julie Bjelland and her colleague talk about this topic in one of her podcasts titled "Confidence, Where it Comes From and How to Get it."

You can listen to in my article: How Creative People Feel Insecure, and How to Gain Confidence.

Learn about resources at her site Sensitive Empowerment with many posts, books, podcast episodes, webinars, courses, Sensitivity Quiz, the Sensitive Community & more for empowering Highly Sensitive and Neurodivergent people.

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Psychotherapist Mihaela Ivan Holtz writes about how you have to ‘show up’ when you "step onto the stage or when you are about to present your creative ideas to other people."

She also notes “If you are a highly creative person – someone with a big drive or determination to achieve your life goals or dreams – an injured self-esteem will show up in your journey over and over again…It will interfere with your ability to invest yourself in creating your life."

From her article (sources of the image at top) How EMDR Can Help you Heal Low Self-Esteem.

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From the above podcast post:

"Not good enough."

Viola Davis said “At thirty-eight, things changed. I didn’t jump out of bed one morning and everything was perfect. I’ve always known I was a strong woman, but I wanted ‘fast-food joy’—quick, easy joy. More tools and tricks.

"I also could still fall back into ‘not enough—not pretty enough, not thin enough, not good enough.’

"One day my therapist asked me a pivotal question: ‘What if nothing changes—your looks, your weight, your success—would you be okay?’

“For the first time, I thought, You know what? Yes, I would. I really would.

“This is when I realized that the past was not going to define me."

Mihaela Ivan Holtz, Psy.D., LMFT of Creative Minds Psychotherapy comments about judgments and perfectionism interfering with our creativity and emotional health.

She writes about being "in the flow, completely at peace with yourself and what you’re doing" and asks, "So, what takes you out of this emotional authentic space?

"It could be a comment you hear or the look in someone’s eyes as they observe something you’re doing. It might be a memory of someone telling you that you “are doing it wrong,” “ruined something,” “keep breaking things.”

And, she adds, “Your own self doubt can cause the disconnection, especially when your inner voice says things like “I’m afraid I will fail,” “people won’t like me,” or “I can’t do this.”

"These are messages of not being “good enough” keeping you stuck in the quest for perfection. The desire to be or do things “perfectly” is a mental space of fear that leaves you caught in anxiety about being wrong, making mistakes, or being flawed."

From her post (source of the above image) Transform Perfectionism into Emotional Freedom with EMDR: to Connect, Create, and Achieve.

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