Week Three Challenge: Negative Self Talk

Welcome to Week 3 of the Challenge! Hopefully after going through the Week 2 Challenge on Thinking Styles, you are more aware of how your perception can be impacted by various mental filters. To piggy back off of that, we are going to look at Negative Self Talk and the impact it has on your goals.

What is it? Negative self-talk is essentially your internal dialogue in response to an external stimuli. Think you don’t talk to yourself? THINK AGAIN!  When we are in a situation we make decisions and pass judgements on what that environment means to us. This helps us determine how we are going to operate in that environment. Initially you might recognize feeling comfortable or uncomfortable when in a situation. Believe it or not an internal conversation took place that had an impact on your mood.

Why is this important?  Our thoughts and moods have a significant impact on our behavior. Remember the saying feelings aren’t facts from the previous week? If we rely only on our feelings for insight and ignore our thoughts, we are bound to repeat cycles of behavior that lead us to NOWHERE.

Continued Negative Self Talk can lead to:

• Devaluing yourself- Overtime you may start to believe that what you have to offer to the world is not important. Negative messages that demean your self-worth gain control and get in the way of self-improvement because you may not feel you are worth it.

 

• Poor Self Image- the characteristics that make you YOU may be discounted. Acceptance of both your positive and negative qualities may feel impossible.

 

•  Increased Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms- Negative self-talk can mirror the expectations we have for ourselves. If we feel we are not meeting those expectations, our negative self-talk may actually increase with the hopes that this will push us closer to our goals when in fact it pushes us farther away.

Challenge: Recognize when you are talking to yourself the way you wouldn’t talk to anyone else. Next integrate positive self-talk to heal the damage done by negative self-talk.

Examples:

I can learn from this and it will be easier next time.

I am Capable.

My mind is not always my friend.

I have the strength to get through this.

Take the time for yourself to implement this challenge. We are creatures of habit so it takes repetition and consistency to create change.

Have a Successful Week!

~Jasmine