With Cecily’s help, I asked myself tough questions about the root of my unhappiness and why I had such low self-esteem. I could link my self-doubt to my childhood, when I felt unseen and unappreciated—there was a lot to unpack there. But Cecily made me realize that the highly critical voice in my head was actually my parents’ voice, not mine. It’s really hard to separate yourself from that voice, but I started telling myself, That’s what my mother would have said. Everything you’ve done has come out better than you could have imagined, so listen to your own voice.
