Your inner critic isn't your own voice. Name it exactly as it sounds, write down what it says, and ask when it first appeared. Once you see it came from somewhere else, it loses its grip on you.
Chapters
When you catch the guilt, the "who do I think I am," the subtle shrink, before it completes, before it shuts down the signal, do this: name the voice, out loud or written, exactly as it sounds. "Good people don't ask for more than they have." "My parents sacrificed too much for me to be selfish." "Wanting something different means I'm ungrateful." Write it down. Write it down, say it to the wall if you have to. Then answer one question: how old was I when I first Where did I first hear this? Not to analyze it, not to process it, just to locate it in time. Because the moment you see that voice has an age, that it came from somewhere, that it was taught, not discovered, it loses its claim to be the final word in your life.