I know what you must be thinking.

“Alli…last I checked, I hadn’t eaten any human, so how am I a cannibal?”

Well, let me start off by saying it probably isn’t you that’s the cannibal (at least I hope not). It’s your inner critic—and it’s eating you alive.

Think about it like this. Every negative comment you think about yourself, every time you look in the mirror and tear yourself down, your inner critic is taking a nice little bite of a juicy steak—and that steak is you.

If you aren’t careful, your inner critic can run rampant and out of control. It’ll eat, and eat, and eat until there’s nothing of you or your self-image left.

When I was younger, I let my inner critic eat me alive, and it left me hollow and empty inside. It’s taken years to regrow parts of me that the critical inner voice had devoured. But the first step to recovering those parts of me was to gain control of the runaway train that was my thought life.

So, here are three ways to stop your inner critic in it’s tracks

1. Recognize the Voice

I get it. It’s hard to distinguish your thoughts from that of the enemy sometimes. Sometimes, it is us speaking badly about ourselves. But sometimes, it’s the quiet whisper of temptation to agree with a lie instead of the truth.

The first step to halting your inner critic is recognizing that it’s your inner critic speaking. Ask if it’s the truth when you think something negative or demeaning about yourself. Are you seeing reality or a twisted version that makes you out to be the worst version of yourself?

2. Choose to Fight

Once you recognize it’s your inner critic, it’s time to fight back. Did you know that for every negative comment we receive, we need to hear three positive things?

Affirmations can feel silly to say, but if you have them paired with scripture it’s not a silly little affirmation. It’s speaking truth–which we’re called to do as Christians.

For every negative thing you thought of yourself, your writing, whatever it is, I want you to say five positive things to combat it.

3. Ask for Prayer

It’s scary to be known. It’s scary to open up about the mean thoughts in your head. But often times, those thoughts lose power when we speak them to a friend. Especially when you and your friend pray. The best way to fight against your inner critic is to invite Jesus into the conversation instead.

My inner critic sure has a lot to say about me. But Jesus has even more, and I can bet everything I own that what Jesus has to say is way more honest than my inner critic ever will be.

Don’t let your inner critic eat you alive, because that’ll make you sorta like a cannibal—and cannibal’s aren’t cool like, at all.

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