Sylvia Plath and Self Doubt



"The worst enemy to creativity is self doubt."

~Sylvia Plath

    Worst enemy. Huh; what an interesting way to think of it. When I hear "worst enemy," I think of a person bent on bettering, conquering, foiling, and basically destroying their noble opponent. I imagine a worst enemy as a person, or a force of numerous people; not a tendency that one person has.
    But it makes a lot of sense. Especially since the self-doubt a lot of us experience as writers often comes as a little voice in the mind. "Hey! You can't work on that now! You won't get an ounce of quality work done!" "Don't even think of starting a new project; you'll lose interest in it after two days." "You shouldn't even bother powering on your computer; you'll probably get sucked into the Internet anyway." All those positive comments that make a person feel so light-hearted.
    Yeah, that sounds like the voice of an opponent. So if self-doubt acts as an enemy, how do we beat it? Voices like this don't go away easily, if it's even possible to get rid of them . . .
    What do we normally do with people who act like a jerk and say rude things to us?
    Personally, I think the best thing to do in that situation is to . . . well, ignore them.
    So maybe that just might work with self-doubt too. It doesn't help to pay attention to them anyway; it only inhibits progress and makes someone feel crummy. Plus, the self-doubting thoughts often take root in fear and/or bitterness. So why believe a word of what it says?
    Ignoring the voice of self-doubt; what do you think of the idea? Is it best to avoid self-doubt altogether, or do you think there's something good that can come out of it?