Everyone feels self-doubt at some point, but for those balancing work during or after cancer treatment, these feelings can be amplified. Concerns about energy levels, needing time away for appointments, or worries about how to disclose your diagnosis can make insecurities feel heavier. This combination of health and career uncertainty often leaves people questioning their abilities at work—even when their value is clear to everyone else.
A recent article in Fast Company provides us with three steps to ways to reframe from self-doubt.
Re- focus away from the negative
When you’re navigating work after a cancer diagnosis, it’s easy to focus on the challenges and to dismiss the recognition and support you’ve received. For people navigating cancer, positive feedback is often minimized and there is a focus on the moments when things didn’t go as planned. Practicing positive self-talk, that contains energy and intention, helps restrain your mindset.
Reframe self-doubt
When you’re navigating work after a cancer diagnosis, it’s easy to focus on the challenges and to dismiss the recognition and support you’ve received. For people navigating cancer, positive feedback is often minimized and there is a focus on the moments when things didn’t go as planned. Practicing positive self-talk, that contains energy and intention, helps restrain your mindset.
Look at things on a micro level
For someone navigating work after receiving a cancer diagnosis, it can take time and practice to successfully reframe from self-doubt. Balancing treatments, a shift in schedule and managing stress in the workplace can be a difficult experience to control. But when you put those moments under a microscope, you may realize they’re signs of resilience— where you are finding new ways to succeed despite challenges.
Find a replacement thought
Once you’ve identified and examined unhelpful thoughts, replace them with affirmations that feel authentic and build self-confidence. This could mean reframing your inner dialogue about your abilities or preparing phrases you can lean on when doubt resurfaces— like, I may never look the same, but I can make choices for myself right now that make me feel better or I can do this, one step at a time. Become more comfortable with constructive self-talk that helps you navigate challenges at work with greater confidence and preparedness.
For more:
- Check out our Balancing Work & Cancer Webinars which have archived sessions on Building Confidence Webinar
- Recasting Yourself After Cancer
- Your Mindset