This episode is either going to make you feel a lot better, or a lot worse about yourself. The reality is that even as sports psychologists who know all the tricks, all the tools, and all of the science, we still have to battle with those annoying inner critics. Critics are pluralized because it's actually several different parts of self that give us unhelpful and outdated information depending on the situation. These parts, however, genuinely believe that they are helping us. Some parts are protectors who think that if we give up we will be better off. Some parts are like firefighters who get called into action during high-stress situations but are not trained in any way to make the situation better so they make it worse. Other parts can be as young as 5 years old, still trying to prove themselves through perfection to feel worthy of love and attention from others. These parts develop out of necessity when we experience pain, hurt, or trauma, and so they believe that they need to stay with us forever to help us get what need depending on the situation. The unfortunate truth is that even when we experience mastery of our sport, our job, or our craft, these parts will fill in the cracks of our foundation when our confidence begins to wane. Therapy does make a significant difference and can even help some of these older parts stay in the background peacefully, but we need to learn how to live with the parts that have taken up permanent residence because we will be eternally disconnected from ourselves if we don't.