Feeling inferior happens to a lot of us- but it doesn’t have to. Find out why you are good enough, just as you are.
When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Do you see someone with strengths who contributes, or do you see someone you feel doesn’t measure up, has nothing to offer, and never will? If you see someone who will never has anything to offer, you feel inferior. Join Mysticsense to find out why you are not inferior, and quite the contrary, you are good enough right now, just as you are. Find out about feeling inferior, reasons we could feel that way, and why you are not, actually, inferior. Then, find out surefire ways to reject feeling inferior, and start realizing you are good enough. Maybe you have not achieved as much as you want, but you are doing better than you think. Read on to find out why you are great just the way you are.
What is Inferiority?
Inferior means someone is somehow below someone or something else. Sometimes this discusses rank or position in a job, but quite often, when we say that someone is inferior, it brings negativity to the discussion. It means they're less valuable, capable, or they are somehow worthless. It suggests that people themselves, not just the things that they do, are poor quality. It also suggests they are forgettable, insignificant, and people can completely get by without them.
When we say that someone is inferior, we typically say that they're just not good enough. They're not smart enough, attractive enough, funny enough, or useful enough. Often what we would say is that people aren't good enough to be in our lives because they don't measure up. Unfortunately, instead of just saying these things about other people who we don't want a relationship with, we tend to say these things about ourselves. We tend to look at other people and their accomplishments and believe that we don't measure up. We believe that we are somehow born inferior and we can never improve. One Zodiac sign that is always seeking to improve themselves is Virgo and you can read about them here: Virgo Traits | Star Sign in The Spotlight
Why We Don’t Feel Good Enough
We don't really wake up one day and feel like we're not good enough. Things in our lives slowly program us to feel that way. There are four major things that can happen in life that make us believe that we're inferior. Childhood traumas or heartbreaking challenges that we're struggling to work through can make us feel that we don't measure up. Peer pressure, including bullying, can do that too. The number one thing that makes us feel that we're not good enough are unrealistic expectations that we hear from other people and internalize.
Childhood Trauma
If the people who raise you are constantly criticizing you, not giving you credit for your accomplishments, or telling you that you're somehow inferior, you will start to believe that about yourself. If every time you get an A in school, a parent gets angry that you didn't get an A+, you're going to start feeling like you're not good enough. If you have parents who feel like they themselves are not good enough, that attitude will rub off onto you and you will start believing that you're not good enough also. Never underestimate the power that adults have on children as they're growing up. An unhealthy mindset instilled in a child can stay with them for life.
Challenges
If you have been having a hard time overcoming challenges, you might think that you're somehow unqualified. If you try, try harder, keep trying harder, try again and you feel like you're failing every time, you might think that there's something wrong with you. All of us go through times like that and there are things that all of us can't accomplish. There are also difficulties that we can work through, but it takes some of us longer than others. There are also things that we can't control and feeling powerless can make you feel inadequate. You might have a personal weakness making it harder to succeed- but it doesn’t have to control you forever. Find out how to turn weaknesses into strengths here: Identifying Each Personal Weakness and Beating It
Peer Pressure
Peer pressure makes us compare ourselves to others, and we should never do that. You might look up to some people as heroes and role models and want to accomplish things like they have, but there's a difference in taking a mentor as a personal example and unfairly comparing yourself to other people. Unfortunately, some of our peers try a little too hard to pressure us and make themselves feel superior. This is aggressive bullying and if you listen to someone's bullying, you might feel inferior. Just remember that the person with the strongest feeling of inferiority in the room is usually the biggest bully, so don't listen to them.
Unrealistic Expectations
Our number one bullies are ourselves. We set ourselves up for failure and disappointment with unfair and unrealistic expectations, and that makes us feel incapable and inferior. Telling yourself that you must earn the top income in your field the first year you work in it is a very bad mindset. Not only does it never happen, it's going to make you feel very bad about yourself. Telling yourself that you have to excel in the arts like an artistic genius when you're clearly not is going to make you feel like your art isn't bad, even though it's very good. Don't tell yourself unfair or unrealistic things. Don't bully yourself. Self bullying creates self-loathing, but you can change that. Find out how here: When You Self-Loathe- How to Change It
Signs You Feel Inferior
Chances are, if you feel inferior, you already know it, but there are a few signs that point out that you do. If you constantly compare yourself to other people and see no redeeming qualities in yourself, you feel like you're not good enough. If you can't handle being given a compliment and you're constantly seeking validation from people, you feel like you're not good enough. If you don't want to try it for things or compete, that means you think you'll lose and you're not good enough.
Constant Comparisons
Comparisons are normal. We measure our abilities by how much we accomplish, but if you're simply doing your best and doing well enough, it's very unhealthy to compare yourself with someone who you feel is doing better than you. One way to turn this into a positive thing, however, is to reach out and ask for guidance from these people who you feel are outperforming you. A lot of people are more than happy to share their secrets and bring other people up. Just make sure not to outdo yourself trying to outperform everybody. Find out why outdoing yourself is bad here: The Case Against the Desire to Overdo It
You See No Positives
We all have redeeming qualities. If you don't believe you have any, you believe you're inferior. The way to find out if you believe you have no positive qualities is to list ten things that you'd like to change about yourself, and then list ten things that you're proud of. Listing things that you would like to improve first can put you in the mindset of critiquing yourself. If you are incapable of critiquing yourself and then patting yourself on the back for something, you don't see any positives in yourself and that means that you feel like you're inferior.
Rejecting Compliments
Do you have a hard time accepting compliments graciously? If so, it's because you believe that you're not good enough. If somebody tells you you look great and you immediately talk about how much you need to improve about your appearance in response, you're not accepting the fact that you already look great. If somebody compliments your job performance and you point out mistakes that you made, you're not capable of accepting what a great job you did and you feel like you're not good enough. If your job makes you feel like you're not good enough, it might be time to change careers. Read more here: Is it Time for a Career Change?
Seeking Validation
Constantly seeking praise or validation that you're doing the right thing is a sign that you feel you're not good enough. When you are learning to do something, you need guidance. However, if you're constantly asking people to tell you that you're doing well throughout your entire life, it's become a habit because you're afraid that you're not good enough. We could all improve at any time, but that doesn't mean that we're not good enough. When you believe you're good enough, you're able to validate yourself.
Refusal to Strive
If you believe you're inferior, you're going to refuse to push yourself to try harder. You're going to refuse to compete because you're afraid that you'll lose. If you believe that you are incapable and inferior, you will believe that you can't do better. Of course you can. All you have to do is try. You never know what you're capable of until you push yourself harder than you ever have before. Competing with other people or improving yourself is just one way to see how great you actually are. One Zodiac sign known for their confidence is Leo and you can read about them here: Leo Traits | Star Sign in The Spotlight
Am I Inferior?
Nobody is inferior. There will be times when we are not at our best, sometimes by choice. There will be times when we struggle and cannot overcome those struggles. There will be times when we are lacking strength or ambition and there will be times when we just don't care to improve. No human being is inherently inferior. All of us are at different places on our own paths and struggling with different things. Just because you're struggling in a certain way someone else isn't, doesn't mean they're better than you. Never forget that.
How To Reject Feeling Inferior
Someone along the way may have taught you that you're not good enough, but they're wrong. At a certain point, you chose to internalize their voice and believe it. Now it's time to make a different choice. It's time to reject feeling inferior. You can do that by refusing to compare yourself to others and praise yourself, accepting that your best is good enough. Challenge yourself to improve and instead of giving up, see mistakes as learning opportunities.
Don’t Compare Yourself
We are all unique individuals with different talents, and we are at different skill levels. Don't expect yourself to be just like someone else. The very people you assume are better than you have some qualities they are not proud of- qualities where you may excel. Celebrate your skills and talents and be proud of other people for theirs instead of thinking they are better than you. Instead of unfairly measuring yourself against others, practice self-care. Learn how to use magic for self-care here: Magical Care for Self in Stressful Times
Build Yourself Up
If you have spent your life telling yourself that you are inferior, this is going to be difficult for you. Once a week, sit down with a journal and write at least one page of good things about yourself. It can be how well you handled a difficult situation, or just how well you're coming along and your studies. It can be how proud you are of a talent like choosing colors well or being a good cook. Get in the habit of praising yourself.
Challenge Yourself
Go ahead and run farther. Right as far as you can go. Challenge yourself to paint with your least favorite colors and see what kind of beautiful things you can create. Take that class you are afraid that you might fail, you might actually pass it. Climb that mountain you think it's too high. Take a mountain climbing class and go with the group. See how far you can go and turn around. Keep trying time and time again until you make it to the top. If you don't challenge yourself, you'll never know how much you're going to accomplish. So challenge yourself. One thing you can challenge yourself to do is choose love. Read how here: The Case for Always Choosing Love
Accept Your Best
Your best is good enough, even if it's not as good as what you think someone else's best is. While you're at it, accept that when other people do their best, their best is good enough too. We can't do any better than our best. If all of us did our best even half the time. Imagine how much all of us in this beautiful world would accomplish. Do your best as often as possible and accept that your best really is the best and that's better than good enough. It is the best!
Learn Instead of Giving Up
Even when you do your best, sometimes you're going to fail. Everybody fails. When you fail, you have a decision to do one of two things. You can either quit, or use it as a learning opportunity and try again. So, learn and keep trying! If you think you fail, did you though? Find out why failing is not always a bad thing here: The Case for Always Choosing Love
Even if we think we are not, we are good enough. Sometimes we're learning and as long as we do our best, there is nothing wrong with that. Simple ways to reject feeling like you're not good enough are refusing to compare yourself to other people, challenge yourself, and instead of giving up if you make a mistake, use it as a learning opportunity. You are beautiful, perfect and whole just the way you are. The only person who needs to believe that is you.
Would you like some encouragement while you're learning to believe in yourself? Reach out to us anytime, any day. We are always here for you.
