The Tale of Ziba the Leopard & the Mysterious Voice

Once upon a time, deep in the shade of a serene forest, lived a graceful leopard named Ziba. She was admired by all for her courage and fairness in protecting the forest. But, like many who shoulder great responsibilities, Ziba sometimes heard a mysterious, critical voice inside her mind—one that made her second-guess her every decision.

No one else could hear this voice, and Ziba began to think of it as an alien invader in her thoughts. Whenever she tried to relax or make an important choice, the voice would whisper:

“What if you’re not doing enough? Why didn’t you do better? What if someone else could do this better than you?”

These questions made Ziba uneasy. She worried that she wasn’t living up to the high standards her ancestors had set. Although brave on the outside, Ziba felt tangled in self-doubt on the inside.

One morning, while Ziba strolled along a narrow trail in the forest, she spotted her friend Darya the Owl perched on a tall branch. Darya watched Ziba’s troubled expression.

“Why so quiet today, dear Ziba?” asked Darya in her soft, wise voice.

Ziba sighed. “I keep hearing these nagging questions in my head: ‘Why did you do that? What if you made a mistake?’ It’s as if an alien voice has invaded my thoughts.”

Darya nodded sympathetically. “The first thing to do is notice that voice. Recognize when it appears and what it says. That’s how we can begin to tame it.”

From that day on, Ziba made a point of listening carefully whenever the pesky, critical thoughts popped into her mind. She even wrote them on a large leaf:

“Shouldn’t you have done more?” “What if you disappoint everyone?”

By noticing and naming them, Ziba began to see that the words were repeating like a broken record—and they were not truly her own.

Ziba soon learned that trying to fight the voice only made it louder. Darya advised her to do something different: fall still.

“Take a moment to breathe,” Darya said. “Relax your body and mind before reacting to that alien voice.”

So whenever Ziba felt the critical questions start to swirl, she would pause under her favorite willow tree. She closed her eyes, inhaled slowly, and let her heart rate slow. Sometimes she took a walk down to the river, watching leaves float by until her tense muscles loosened. The more Ziba practiced this stillness, the more the alien voice’s power began to fade.

Once Ziba felt calm, she would quietly reflect on what was bothering her. One afternoon, after a challenging day of helping settle a land dispute among the forest creatures, she sat by the river’s edge.

“What did I intend to do today?” she asked herself, her voice gentle. “I meant to help the deer and the otters resolve their boundary issue peacefully.”

Then she asked, “What can I learn from this?” She realized that sometimes her eagerness to solve problems quickly made her doubt whether she had taken enough time to listen carefully to each side.

Next, she asked, “How can I recover and do my best now?” She realized she could schedule a follow-up meeting to ensure everyone felt truly heard. These moments of reflection were kinder and far more helpful than letting the alien voice scold her.

With her self-reflection came a deep breath of relief. Ziba discovered that forgiving herself for not doing everything perfectly was the key to moving forward. She stopped punishing herself for small oversights or moments of hesitation.

One day, she wrote her recent “mistakes” on a smooth river stone:

“Rushed a meeting.” “Didn’t double-check facts.”

She gently placed the stone into the rushing water and watched the river carry it away.

“Goodbye, old worries,” she whispered. “I promise to do better next time.”

Ziba felt lighter, as though a great weight had been lifted from her spotted shoulders. She also realized she could fix things if necessary—maybe by apologizing to someone she’d brushed off too quickly or by making amends if she had overlooked a detail. With each apology and correction, she stepped closer to being the thoughtful leader she longed to be.

Over time, thanks to these four steps—Noticing the voice, Falling still, Reflecting and learning, and Forgiving herself—the alien voice grew quieter. It didn’t vanish entirely, but when it stirred, Ziba recognized it right away and knew just what to do. By practicing stillness and showing herself understanding, she could gently guide the voice out of her mind rather than let it take over her day.

News spread through the forest about how Ziba had conquered an invisible foe. Animals marveled that despite all her responsibilities, Ziba now radiated a calm confidence. When younger creatures asked her how she stayed so sure of herself, Ziba smiled and taught them the same steps she had learned.

As the seasons passed, Ziba’s reputation grew not only as the leopard who defended the forest from external threats—like cunning land-grabbing foxes—but also from invisible ones, like self-doubt. The animals saw that Ziba’s strength came not just from her keen senses or swift paws, but from her willingness to pause, reflect, learn, and forgive.

And so, under the whispering leaves of the ancient forest, Ziba walked with her head held high, unafraid of any challenge—outside or inside her own thoughts. She had learned that sometimes the biggest battle isn’t with tricky new technologies or changing rules, but with the small, harmful voice that tries to hold us back from the greatness we are meant to achieve.

Thus ends the tale of Ziba and the alien voice—an unexpected adventure into self-discovery, showing all who heard it that true courage often comes from within, where we learn to be our own best friend.

Based on the article "Break the Curse of Second guessing Yourself: 4 Steps that Transform Self Criticism into Self Confidence" by Meredith Kimbell