{"id":43609,"date":"2026-02-09T06:30:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T17:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=43609"},"modified":"2026-02-08T20:31:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T07:31:12","slug":"reflecting-on-sylvia-plath-self-doubt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/reflecting-on-sylvia-plath-self-doubt\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting on Sylvia Plath & Self Doubt"},"content":{"rendered":"

On January 22 I posted a quote from Sylvia Plath (1932-1963):<\/p>\n

\u201cThe worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rather than just leaping in with my own thoughts, I offered blog readers\u00a0 and followers the opportunity to share their view — so a big thank you to Gail Halsted who replied as follows:<\/p>\n

“…Not sure about this but certainly the hesitation to have ones work critiqued by other good authors. Also the lack of discipline and procrastination.”<\/em><\/p>\n

All of which prompted me to reflect a little more deeply and then (as is often my way \ud83d\ude42 ) emulate a Tolkien elf and answer “both yes and no.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So I agree with both Sylvia Plath and Gail that a lack of belief in oneself can definitely sabotage creativity, particularly if it leads one to not create at all — or to create, but be reluctant to show the work to others, or put it out there into the world. Self doubt may also lead to “overdoing” the creative work, e.g. overediting a novel or poem, which can feel very self-destructive.<\/p>\n

My but<\/em>, however, is that self-doubt may also aid the creative process if it leads one to review and question what has been achieved; to strive to be and do better; and to remain open to feedback and be willing to change where that feedback resonates. In these circumstances, it may support creative achievement, rather than undermining it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In summary, if self-doubt is of crippling proportions, or leads one to always heed others’ views over one’s own creative instincts, then I agree that it undermines, or may even overwhelm, creativity. But if it’s part of the picture but kept in balance, then it may play a positive part.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, I am very happy to hear more viewpoints on this. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On January 22 I posted a quote from Sylvia Plath (1932-1963): \u201cThe worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.\u201d Rather than just leaping in with my own thoughts, I offered blog readers\u00a0 and followers the opportunity to share their view — so a big thank you to Gail Halsted who replied as follows: “…Not sure about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,19,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-writing","category-funstuff","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43609"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43613,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43609\/revisions\/43613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}