Inferiority issues

It is very easy to feel inferior to others when we feel down or anxious and cannot do what we perceive others’ can do easily. If we feel very down and at times useless, we can make up stories that people are thinking negatively about us. We hear what we want to hear and don’t always hear what the person is really saying because something hits a chord with us and we concentrate on it so much we believe they are aiming their comments at us. We take what someone says personally, even if it wasn’t aimed at us at all. At times, I have misconstrued what people have said to me. For example, someone could be talking about how easy they find it to cook, yet other people don’t cook much anymore. Now, if I do not cook much because I just don’t feel like it and I feel bad that I don’t cook and am not healthy and it’s on my mind… well, I could take what they have said as a personal insult. Because I have already berated myself for it, I might perceive that they are picking on me too. What I would need to do is to ask myself what the person really meant. Did they make the comment really about me, or were they generalising? Was it just that they struck a chord with my feeling of weakness without knowing it? In my experience, more often than not, I have misinterpreted others’ comments to be a dig at me just because I was feeling low myself. So, ask yourself, am I making up a story here, before jumping to conclusions.

And just because other people can do things or have experienced things/know things we do not, it doesn’t mean we are inferior either. We all live our lives, day by day, year by year, and experience things that arise for US. We do not have the same experience as anyone else, and nor do we think exactly the same way. So, if anyone judges our knowledge against their own, we need to feel strong and know that we might not know the world’s knowledge the same as them, but we have our own unique knowledge and experiences of the same world, be it historical, from books, or from our own feelings.

A self-worth tip!

This is especially helpful if we experience self-destructive behaviours and low self-worth.

To find out how to look after yourself in the best way and to find out what you really think, if a matter arises that is negative, just ask yourself what you would tell your loved one to do if they were in the same predicament. We might not look after ourselves at times, but want the best for those close to us, and this is a great way to re-evaluate what we do ourselves.

Take care 

If you would like therapy for anxiety but cannot access it, I have devised and filmed a 14 session programme for overcoming anxiety - please see my page for more details by clicking HERE