By Miranda Zelda Naiman, founder of Empower Limited and Learning Chair of EO Tanzania. 

Let’s be honest. We’ve all done it. We cross the line from humility to a dangerous, self-deprecating tone and it’s the equivalent of jumping off the back of a moving truck into a cactus bush. It serves noone—least of all you. Self-deprecation comes in all shapes and forms, but it always sits under the umbrella of belittling or devaluating yourself.

When life gets tough, that little voice in the bowels of your psyche will throw up a whole host of questions—one of which is, “why me?” This loaded (and guilt-inducing) question has the power to throw everything off kilter and spiraling downward into the darkness of depression.