5 Things That Prove You *Are* Good Enough!

While growing up comes with many challenges, perhaps the biggest is overcoming your own doubts regarding your abilities.

The bad news is that there’s no way to avoid that feeling. The good news is that it happens to everybody – and there are ways around it.

“X is better than me because…”

There will be a time when you might look at somebody else and compare yourself to them. It happens. The mind is an impressive liar – most of all to yourself. You will always compare your worst to somebody else’s (presumed) best, which seems to be easier than realising that the people you compare yourself to compare themselves to other people too.

One way to overcome envy is to think of the unavoidable but appropriate cliché: you are unique. Whenever you feel the urge to compare yourself with others, remember that everything in this world is relative. Look at what you have achieved or areas you need to work on, and focus on being a better version of yourself.

We are all different and what you think you lack another person may desire. Fostering negative thoughts doesn’t help anyone.

“I am already x years old and haven’t achieved what I hoped to!”

First of all, you can’t control the future. There will be circumstances out of your control that will alter your plans, and this is okay. Dealing with unexpected events is a lesson learned through experience,and nobody really knows how they will react to these things.

Think of yourself as a SatNav: sometimes there will be obstacles in the way that will force you to recalculate your route, and sometimes these roads will take longer to get to the destination, but eventually you will. Take baby steps, if you need, and make little goals towards the large one.

“I’m too weak; I can’t deal with this!”

Hello, world speaking! We give you permission to be human.

Somewhere along the way we as a society, collectively but unofficially, decided that it’s better to suppress emotions because they are weak, troublesome and useless. But we forgot that emotions are a part of us, and having them doesn’t in any way make us weak.

Emotions are a method of communication and, believe it or not, they are there for a reason. Hiding them and trying to push through will just make the issue worse. Emotions make up who we are and they affect everybody differently. Don’t ever bring yourself down for having them.

“This was a complete waste of time. I’ve made a huge mistake.”

You know how else you can phrase this?

“This didn’t work out the way it was supposed to. Still, it was an experience. Now that I know what not to do, I will approach it differently next time.”

We all have the option to change our outlook on things, and sometimes this is the key to being resilient to those negative thoughts about ourselves. Yes, it’s easier said than done, but sometimes that’s all it takes: saying it.

Take negative experiences as experiences, acknowledge there are a hundred ways to skin a cat and approach it all with a hint of humour.

“They expected me to do x, but I haven’t/can’t. This must mean…”

… that you shouldn’t pay that much attention to others’ expectations. On the road to achieving your goals, you won’t be able to please everybody around you. This might make things frustrating, but you have to learn to let. It. Go.

Everyone is different. And you know what? That’s more than okay. Be the best version of yourself, not the best copycat on campus.

Inspiring Interns is a recruitment agency specialising in all the internships and graduate jobs London has to offer.