As women, it’s an unfortunate trap that we’ll fall into lies others place upon us in our lives. There’s a lie many of us believe behind closed doors that someone else would be better equipped or suited for the callings and careers we pursue. However, we must stop believing these lies and preventing the potential of all we’re meant, called, and can potentially do. Here are some lies that women believe about their calling.

“You’re too much.”

One of the lies women typically believe originates from being told that they’re too much. This may be in the way of being too energetic, ambitious, over the top, and the list goes on. Instead of judging yourself and believing you’re too much, take some time to consider that you might be presenting your gifts to the wrong people. You might be sharing too much voice with people who were never meant to be top advisors in your life. Think about how you’re giving a voice to someone who can only handle a small fry, and you’re offering a super-sized meal. Don’t lessen yourself to get on the level of others. Instead, find a new audience.

“You’re not enough.”

On the contrary, but in a similar fashion, there’s a lie that you’re not enough. This lie could come forth in the way of not feeling talented enough, intelligent enough, or good enough. Consider that they’re using measures and scales that aren’t an appropriately accurate assessment. Albert Einstein once said that everyone is a genius. However, if you judge a fish by whether it can climb a tree, then it’ll live its whole life believing it’s stupid. His idea was that we’re all different, and if we put a mark of being enough at the same measure, it’s not a fair or correct evaluation. This idea is also true for you, where it’s essential to celebrate, appreciate, and conclude parts of yourself and others based on the gauge of oneself.

It’s good if you’re doing better than you were last year, but if you’re doing poorly in comparison, what do you need to improve? Is it a listening ear? What about rest? Is it rehabilitation or therapy for part of your mind and heart? It’s not that you’re not enough, but you need something you currently don’t have to help you reach your potential compared to yourself.

“Your voice is irrelevant.”

The idea that your voice doesn’t matter or isn’t as important as another can stifle the potential of all you have to say in the world. You have a unique point of view that no one else but you can bring to the table. Your voice does matter, and the world needs your unique voice in this world’s matters. Don’t let the opinions of others who seek to suffocate your fire snuff out all that you have to say because your words and ideas can change things.

“There’s a bully in the mirror.”

As women, typically, the biggest bully in our lives isn’t society’s standards, a judgmental family member, or co-workers, but the person looking back at you in the mirror. The concept you hold of yourself shows itself to others in your confidence and other small ways. As much as we believe self-concept and self-esteem are aspects we can hide within the secrets of our hearts, we can’t fool anyone. From the way you walk to your demeanor, it’s apparent not just to you how you see yourself but also by the way you carry yourself. That’s not said to place the perceptions somehow and collect thoughts of others at a high mark, but it’s to say that it’s an example you set.

Acknowledging that the bully in you is a large shadow of the inner root of the fears that you lack, all that you fail at, and all that you fear in rebuke from others changes your perspective on the bully. That bully isn’t the genuine “you” but instead, the collection of every judgment, opinion, or prejudice you’ve seen others extend upon you or someone you’ve witnessed. You can let the bully stay an obnoxious, loud voice or shut it out, but this doesn’t mean you’ll suddenly perform and interact in the world perfectly, and it doesn’t mean others will keep acting like they always have, but it means you’ll no longer reject yourself for what you do or what you’ll potentially do. It means you offer the same grace, kindness, and encouragement that you offer others.

“You’re an imposter.”

The idea that you’re an imposter is soul-crushing. It’s the hidden belief that you’re a poser, faker, or a fraud in the calling you live out. This lie isn’t easy to break an agreement with, but it starts with approaching all that you live out in a way that there’s nothing but potential. You’re in this position now, and all that remains is the most significant potential that you can either stop or wholly live out with everything you have.

Breaking an agreement with imposter syndrome lies also requires a deeper form of self-acceptance, self-love, and self-esteem building so you’ll no longer see yourself as less than others but as someone seeking to live out all that is possible within yourself. Self-worth is the cure for imposter syndrome.

When you look deeper into these lies, you’re left with the truth that you’re on this earth for such a time as this. Of all the times you could’ve lived, God saw fit that you would be alive for this very time. Keeping that in mind, collaborate with God and ask Him why He put you on the earth during this time and how you can break these lies that seek to overthrow all that you’re really meant to do for such a time as this.