We were honored to be featured in this advice article from UpJourney.

Sharon’s quote is below:

Sharon Rosenblatt

Director of Communications, Accessibility Partners, LLC

It’s hard to ignore those nagging voices in your head that hold you back. I’ve spent much of high school, then college, and even into my first job second-guessing so many of my decisions. I’d ask co-workers to over-proof things that should have been automatic on my end, and even if they were acceptable, I’d still panic for the next iteration.

After years of professional self-doubt and personal anxiety, I had a therapist tell me:

“You know, you can talk back louder to the voices in your head that say ‘you can’t.’”

It changed my life. Despite the tongue-in-cheek reference to voices, it made me realize I can be louder than my detractors, even if the biggest enemy to my success is a lack of confidence. Volume and realizing my own voice had worth changed the trajectory of my life.

I coupled that with a five-year review comment from my boss. When I outlined my anxieties and fear in the workplace, she shared three words of advice: “I trust you.” She followed up with what that trust meant, and then the real advice came: I had used her trust in me to ultimately then trust myself.

Realizing I was no longer entry-level at this point and way past anything probationary, I valued her trust in me, which I then fostered into self-confidence. While it never reached the hubris level, I was able to clear her inbox from my need for feedback and just own my work output.