One of the most amazing things we have learned on our journey is how similar we all are. When you take your first steps to opting back in, it will be very common for you to have a flood of thoughts eating away at your self-confidence.
That inner critic may be the most challenging thing you will face on this path.
We are not going to pretend that there are not new skills to learn in this process and so self-esteem alone is not going to carry the day, but women who have been professionally successful in the past have proven to us that they can learn skills. So what holds them back from getting back in and learning new ones? It is often that inner voice which says you are not as smart as the people around you and that as soon as they find out what you really can and cannot do, they are going to laugh you out of town. The reality is that navigating this new space will require you to have confidence in yourself and your ability to learn new things while being honest and realistic with yourself and others about what you do not know.
The things you do not know can be a gift because they tell you where you need to focus and learn. At the same time, you do have to hold yourself with confidence as you interact and work with new people around you in order to establish yourself as the competent person you are. This is a hard balancing act and that is why we spend so much time at Opting Back In working on this very topic with our students and associates.