Feeling overlooked and invisible can be difficult to get over. It can cause you to be completely blind to your own greatness and value. I have struggled with this for a very long time and have learned to overcome it even though it tries to creep up every now and then.
Growing up I was always in the shadows of someone else. I felt that because I wasn’t like the other person that I didn’t matter and wasn’t as important. I suffered with depression and low self esteem; even when I did something I thought was great it never seemed to be enough. Dealing with this for so many years made me feel like I had to work overtime to earn people’s attention.
When I became a mother I begin to experience similar feelings but for different reasons. I chose the path to have a family and neglected some of my dreams and goals. Having kids changes your life in so many ways and in some cases you can loose yourself. Your dreams and goals tend to take a backseat to those babies. Even if you have accomplished a lot, you can still seem to get lost and fade into the background of mom life.
Whatever your reason for feeling this way you can overcome it and live in a place of freedom…
Understand You Have a Purpose and a Destiny
Having a solid grasp of this is essential in overcoming feeling overlooked. God has desinged All of us with purpose and our job is to intensely pursue what that purpose is. When you begin to understand why you are on this earth and what you are supposed to be doing you will begin to take steps to living free of this.
Finding Your Passion
Doing what you love can start to heal the brokenness that comes from feeling invisible. It will bring fulfillment and cause you to not care about what others think about you.
When you begin to realize what you are good at and what you’re passionate about you’ll see that maybe your gift doesn’t require you being in the forefront all of the time, if at all. There can only be one lead singer of the group. Someone has to be cool with being a background singer.
Change Your Environment
In order to walk in a place of freedom you need a system of love and support. You need to be where you are celebrated and embraced for who you are. You can’t change the people, but you can take yourself out of toxic and unhealthy situations. Whatever this looks like for you; healing will not happen if you are around the wrong group of people.
Change the Way You Think
Changing the way you think is paramount if you are going to live in a place of freedom. The way you think about yourself is a critical to this. If you think you aren’t as important, then that is going to be your reality. If you believe in peoples negative opinions of you, that will also be your reality. Diligence in managing your thoughts is life or death (in any situation)!
Focus on Someone Else
Helping someone else feel better about themselves or serving people in need is good for the soul. It changes your perspective of everything and takes your mind off of what you’re going through.
Season of Growth
If you are feeling overlooked, don’t look at it as a bad thing. Maybe it’s an opportunity for you to be learning and growing, my father would call it a “time of less demand”. Take advantage of not being the one with all of the attention on you. Going back to school or finding a mentor is the perfect use of this quiet season. One thing I have learned is at some point the spotlight will be on you and you will be required to produce.
Take Responsibility for You
Take the power away from people, they only have the ability to make you feel overlooked if you let them. This is such a freeing thing because you begin to realize that you are not at the mercy of other people. You can get up one day and decide that you aren’t going to live here anymore! Whether people notice you or not, YOU ARE AWESOME!
You are awesome and you can move from this place of sadness and brokenness to a place of joy, freedom, and fulfillment. Believe me, it’s not going to be easy and it won’t happen overnight. Give yourself the time and space to grow and be made whole. One day you’ll be able to help someone dealing with these same feelings.
