Stop looking at yourself through the eyes of the one person who wants you small.

Sometimes one person’s opinion becomes the lens you use on yourself, and it keeps working long after they are gone. Their view was never neutral. It came out of whatever they needed to be true, and somewhere along the way you took on the job of maintaining it for them. That was not your fault, and needing time to put it down is not weakness.

When that voice starts, try naming who it actually belongs to. Then check it against somebody with no reason to want you smaller, a friend, a coach, anyone who has seen you clearly.