Battling Negativity

Yesterday, I was having a total bummer of a day.  Nothing was going right.  I. was. so. frustrated.  I ugly-cried.  (You know what I mean.)  And you know who wasn't helping me out?

Me.

I say the meanest things to myself.  And sometimes I don't even realize it.  So, yesterday I started doing something that did help me out.  (And I thought I'd share it, because maybe you guys are mean to yourselves sometimes, too.)

When I start saying to myself, "This is so frustrating.  I can't do anything right.  What is my problem!?" I rephrase it to sound like someone else is saying it to me.  Like this:

"You are so frustrating.  You can't do anything right.  What is your problem!?"

Yikes.

I wouldn't let someone else say that to me... so why do I say it to myself?  Am-I-right?  Rephrasing my negative self-talk helps me see how mean I really am being to myself, and gives me a chance to look at the issue realistically.  It gives me the chance to say, "Yes, sometimes situations don't go my way and they are frustrating, but I do many things right every day, and some situations are out of my control.  There's no use beating myself up about them."  Yay!  So much better, right?

I hope you found some encouragement in this!