Hi there,
I often notice that I get hold back from doing things by thoughts and doubts that stem from experiences from my childhood. I used to be an overweight and socially awkward child, which I got bullied for most of my school life. Now I am 24, working on self-improvement a lot and have lost most of my belly fat 3 years ago.
These days when approaching women, I often think something like "I am not looking good enough for her, I am too fat", even though on a rational level I know that's not necessarily the case. But there lies the problem: The rationality does not break through these old doubts.
When I am dreaming about my goals and how I achieve them I often think how satisfactory it would be to meet one of the bullies again to show them how much I have improved. Again, from a rational viewpoint this seems pathetic and I do not actually care about those people anymore, but these thoughts still rise up continually.
I also get irritated more than necessary when someone gets angry at me for whatever reason. In those moments I often feel a little bit like back in the days when I got bullied in a football team that I played in for a year or so. Back then I felt like whatever I did was wrong because I was fat. These days when doing something wrong the critique sort of hits me on a personal level, like as if the world is once again displeased with me being too fat.
How do I get rid of these old doubts? Can I somehow convince "myself" that I am reallly not that fat anymore?