That voice in your head calling you stupid often sounds like someone. Notice who. It isn’t you.

Internal criticism usually has a borrowed tone. Listen for the accent rather than the content and you can often hear whose phrasing it is: a teacher, a coach, somebody who was unkind to you at eleven. It installed itself early and now runs by itself, which is why it feels like your own judgment rather than a quotation.

Next time it starts up, ask gently whose voice that actually is. Naming the source weakens its authority. Then try saying to yourself what you would say to a friend in the same spot.