Self-Doubt Never Disappears - It Just Gets Quieter

Day 17 30-Day Art Challenge October 2025 (Marie-Louise Bahnson)

Self-doubt doesn’t vanish with experience.

It doesn’t disappear once you’ve found your voice or built confidence. More often, it stays, quietly present and familiar. The difference isn’t whether it exists, but where it sits.

Think of self-doubt as a passenger in the car.

The Driver’s Seat

When self-doubt sits in the driver’s seat, everything slows.

Decisions become cautious. Direction becomes unclear. You second-guess instinct, avoid risk, and mistake hesitation for safety. Progress stalls, not because you lack ability, but because doubt is steering.

This is where self-sabotage begins: when fear is mistaken for wisdom.

Moving It Out of Reach

The goal isn’t to eject self-doubt from the car entirely.

That rarely works. Instead, it’s about relocation. When self-doubt is moved to the back seat, or better yet, the boot, it’s still present, but it no longer has access to the controls.

You can hear it faintly, but it doesn’t determine the route.

Learning to Drive Anyway

Confidence isn’t the absence of doubt.

It’s the willingness to keep moving despite it. Each time you act in the presence of uncertainty, doubt loses volume. Not because it’s proven wrong, but because it’s no longer being obeyed.

Momentum quietens the noise.

Practice Makes Distance

With repetition, the distance grows.

You begin to recognise doubt as information rather than instruction. A signal, not a command. Over time, it becomes easier to acknowledge it without reacting to it.

The work continues. The direction holds.

Staying in Motion

Self-doubt may always come along for the ride.

But it doesn’t get to choose the destination. When you decide where it sits, you reclaim agency in your practice.

So keep driving. Keep creating.

Let doubt ride quietly in the back, while you stay focused on the road ahead.