Are you Listening to Your Inner Voice or Your Inner Critic?

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Activia for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
This post brought to you by Activia. The content and opinions expressed below are that of Rachel Teodoro.

"You can't do it."

"Just give up now."

"What's the point? It's not like it's going to work."

I know I'm not the only one that has a running dialogue like this in my head. It's funny, but I would never say any of those things to a friend. I would definitely never say them to my kids, I wouldn't even say them to a complete stranger, so why is it that this is the tape that runs through my mind when I start something new?

If anyone asked me what I did for a living I would always answer that I was a stay at home mom. I have three beautiful kids who I love dearly and because they are so important to me, I think that I had a hard time embracing the fact that I was somehow suddenly sharing my time doing something other than raising kids. My focus shifted but my priorities hadn't. Part of me just couldn't believe that the end of my career as a stay at home mom was starting to become a reality and that I was embracing a change and becoming a working mom to make blogging a full time job.

The inner voice kept telling me that if I didn't claim the title then I couldn't fail and failure was inevitable. Or was it? I needed to stop listening to the inner critic and quit thinking that it was my inner voice. I was confusing the two and I needed to make one louder than the other in order to pull in that strength I knew was inside. I had dozens of successes in my life that I could pull from, but I was focusing on the "what ifs" and the "you cant's."

It started with baby steps. I changed my social media profiles to include my job title and the world kept spinning. I set up regular work hours during the day and the earth didn't crumble. I asked for help and my voice became stronger not weaker. I took small steps but those small steps started turning that inner voice up so that the inner critic could hardly be heard.

I know that there will be times when I'm not always going to be successful, but I can make that inner voice louder than the inner critic by drawing on those positive past experiences and quieting those negative ones.

I love how Activia believes that when your mind and body are fully aligned, you can harness your full and greatest potential. I need a cheerleader like that on my side! It starts inside by turning that inner voice up, but it continues by knowing that you are more than a collection of your failures. You are stronger than that and that you can draw from the strength you have inside.

I loved this very real look at several women's responses to the question about their inner voice. "Failure is a possibility but so is success."

Inner Voice Interview

Let that inner voice be louder than the inner critic. You are made for so much more. It starts inside and it's OK to start with baby steps.