Ah yes, that makes sense, then. So you need to retrain yourself to stop thinking in competition terms, and remind yourself that most of the other people in costume around you bought theirs, or at least the components, rather than making it from the ground up.
Suggested exercise: every time that little voice starts up, give it a metaphorical smackdown and repeat (out loud if necessary), "This is NOT a competition. I don't HAVE to have made everything from scratch. Wearing ready-made is JUST FINE." Then think about something else -- it helps to have a short list of distraction topics (fanfic?) ready to hand. It takes time, but this technique can actually retrain entrenched "internal tapes" to say something different.
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Date: 2005-01-24 10:36 pm (UTC)Suggested exercise: every time that little voice starts up, give it a metaphorical smackdown and repeat (out loud if necessary), "This is NOT a competition. I don't HAVE to have made everything from scratch. Wearing ready-made is JUST FINE." Then think about something else -- it helps to have a short list of distraction topics (fanfic?) ready to hand. It takes time, but this technique can actually retrain entrenched "internal tapes" to say something different.