CPTSD, Self-care and Trauma: Learning Self-efficacy (+ 8 Journal Prompts to Reflect on Your Self-efficacy)
April 7, 2023
Recently, I decided to join Noom. Noom is a weight loss app designed to help you understand the psychology behind weight loss. They take in factors such as how you eat and what your motivations are for eating. But they also address something I wasn’t expecting: the concept of self-efficacy, or, according to Noom, the belief in your own ability to succeed. Which got me thinking about self-efficacy in all areas of my life.
After living in a fight-or-flight state for 23 years, my self-efficacy was pretty low. It always felt like something was standing in the way of my ability to be well. Of my ability to feel successful at anything.
Then, after my repressed trauma surfaced, it was like everything felt different. Like I had a chance to be different. Like I owed it to myself to start believing in myself. Believing in my ability to succeed. No matter what I try.
Which then prompted the question of what I want to do. What I consider to be successful and what I’m willing to do to achieve success. And it occurred to me that (and the Noom app reminded me that) it all starts with believing in myself. With having self-efficacy.
So if you’re like me and you struggle with feeling like you can succeed in any area of your life, here are some journal prompts to help you think about your own self-efficacy:
- How do you define success for yourself?
- In what areas of your life do you consider yourself already successful? (This can be any measure of success like getting out of bed every day.)
- In what areas of your life do you wish you were more successful?
- What steps can you take toward succeeding in each area?
- How will you evaluate your self-efficacy?
- What goals can you set? (Remember, these can start out small.)
- When will you reflect on the progress you’ve made? Once a day? A week? A month?
- How will you celebrate goals you accomplish?
I wish you the best of luck in building your self-efficacy. May you believe in yourself no matter what you do. You’ve got this!
Subscribe to my website | Like me on Facebook | Follow me on Twitter | Follow me on Instagram
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio