ACHIEVING POSITIVE SELF-TALK

When I was in treatment, I heard the expressions “positive affirmations” and “try journaling” quite often. They were valid suggestions for people like me who suffered from low self-esteem and overwhelming negative self-talk. However, I personally found that I did not have the patience to sit and journal, and I really could not come up with affirmations that I could say about myself, either aloud or in my own head.

Then someone gave me a list of very short statements that I was to complete at the end of each day. Statements like “Something I did well today was…..”, “I felt good about myself when….”, “today I had fun when….”, “Today, I helped someone…”. All I had to do was write three or four words to finish each sentence, based on my activities or feelings that day.

This simple exercise proved to be so successful for me in raising my self-esteem and reducing negative thinking that I created my own list of statements and I continue, months later, to complete it on an almost daily basis. It has taught me that no matter what happens each day, good or bad, I can almost always find that I have done something positive that makes me feel good about myself.