I am struggling with accepting compliments made about me, especially when I don’t know the person making them that well. I have thoughts like “that person doesn’t really know me, he/she is saying I am this or that but deep inside I know that I am not”. It usually revolves around my abilities. When people say I am good or promising at something, I always tend to think that it’s not true, that if they knew me the way I know myself, they would see that out of stress I may let myself down, back out of something or go back to my comfort zone and fail at doing what they think I will be good at doing. I don’t even know if this is an actual imposter syndrome or if I am truly avoiding difficulties.
The problem that I have is that I don’t trust myself enough to support me and to not let me down if I am facing a difficult or unknown/unforeseen situation. I am aware this is a thought I could choose not to believe, but since it happened in the past (I tend/tended to be good at avoiding stressful situations or over prepare if I have no choice but to experience them), I am more likely to trust my negative thoughts on this. My trust in myself is somehow eroded and is tough to build it from scratch.