7 Deep Questions To Ask Yourself When You Feel Like You're Not Good Enough
Get back in touch with yourself by going deep.
antoniosantosc / Shutterstock When was the last time you felt you had to prove something to the people you love? How often do you feel like you’re never good enough for your mother, father, grandparents, caregivers, or lover?
No matter what you do, you never get a “That’s great! I’m so proud of you!” Or maybe they tell you so but it’s only on very special occasions, and it’s presented like, “You know well that we’re proud of you. It’s a given.”
When you have low self-esteem, you often find yourself in isolation, sitting in the dark abandoned and longing for love from the people you need it from most.
I remember days when I was feeling successful or at some small peak of my life. Maybe I collaborated with many good people and my YouTube channel was also having quite good traffic and, finally, my articles were gaining some traction. Everybody around me was very happy and proud.
But I realized that it was a matter of love and passion. I thought, “I am not doing as great as many others have done it, I need to grow myself more. I still have a long way to go.”
I called my parents to tell them about my success, but all I got was an, "Okay, how are you?" reply from them. I felt bad and angry, because everybody is happy but they have no impact on my success. I was expecting a different reply.
I asked myself how I can give somebody so much control over how I feel about my victories, future, and passion. I started thinking about what had happened. Then, I dug deeper and went through a process that I will share with you here because I know that I’m not alone in this boat.
Here are 7 deep questions about self-worth to ask yourself when you feel like you're not good enough.
1. Do I focus on what I have or what I’m missing?
The reason certain people don’t give you the love you want might just be that they never got the love they always longed for as well. They might be doing their best. Sometimes their way of controlling you or not giving you words of encouragement might be their way of showing love.
Does that sound messed up? Because it is.
It could be that the message they got about praise and encouragement is that it is a waste of time. Actions speak louder than words. You had probably heard this saying many times before.
The actions they chose to show you love are according to their dictionary of how love is expressed, not yours. So, don’t expect them to live life according to your terms.
2. What will it take to love myself?
In order to expand the love you experience, you need to embark on your spiritual journey to discover unconditional love for yourself. Love is a choice, and if you have never experienced love it’s because you never chose to love.
Love can be a healing force that unifies everybody. You can love someone without needing anything in return from them. That’s where freedom comes in.
I wanted recognition from my parents at that moment to feel loved and, to be honest, to feel love for them, too. Sounds like barter or a business transaction, not love.
3. Is it bringing me closer to what I want from life?
I follow my passion and my heart. I know you do, too. It was disrespectful to my passion in life to question my accomplishments. It’s self-vandalization.
Why is it that you still find yourself rushing to prove to others that you deserve to be loved and to love? By others, I mean those whose attention and love you were longing to have but did not when you were young.
Why? It’s a powerful question. We spend too much time trying to figure out why we forget that it doesn’t really matter. It’s rarely about why.
4. Might it be that I’m looking for something I can’t get?
Wasting your life and drowning in suffering because you have never had the love and attention from your parents you deserved or even witnessed other kids have will not get you anywhere but desperation and self-pity. By focusing on what you can’t have you will create obstacles.
By referring back to the memories of your parents never encouraging you for the great achievements that should have made them outrageously happy, you reinforce the limiting belief of not being good enough and worthy of people’s attention.
5. Am I making a living or designing my own life?
Coaching and counseling people, I can confidently say that you can’t force people to see from your own reality. We all have our own reality, and each reality is valid. Accept that you can’t control people or even change their behavior by telling them not to do something.
We all have been emotionally wounded at some point in our lives. However, some chose not to allow that wound to stop them from finding fulfillment in life, whereas others continue picking that scab, never allowing it to disappear.
When you find yourself rejected by the people whose love you never got, don’t allow it to feed your soul. It might have been their fault that they never loved you the way you wanted them, but it’s your fault to allow it to define who you are in the present.
6. Can I just let it go?
It might be scary as hell to let go of the feeling of not being good enough. Maybe it’s time to forgive and move on. You might think that not forgiving them for not loving you the way you wanted them to serve you as protection. But it doesn’t.
In fact, it poisons you, your soul, and your passion for life. Because you’re not only thinking that they robbed you of that moment in the past, but also that they robbed you of the future as well. No one can take away your future from you.
7. Is now a good time to forgive?
Not forgiving is a self-fulfilling prophecy because it has everything to do with you and nothing to do with the other person. You trap yourself in isolation and loneliness and try to prove that you’re worthy of love. It feeds this imprisonment.
Problems need the energy to live. Find people in your life who support you and empower you to become a better version of yourself.
Next time you feel like yet again you’re not enough for your loved ones, tell yourself the following: “Every time I’m wasting my energy on where I have been or on what I haven’t had, I’m not going to have the energy, audacity, tenacity, and courage I need to energize where I’m going.” Let it go.
Aman Mishra is a college student, YouTuber, and psychology enthusiast. He is a former frequent contributor to Medium, writing on topics to spread positivity in the world.