Breaking Free of Negative Self-Talk and Isolation

What you say to yourself has everything to do with your level of success in life – at whatever it is that you are trying to change or accomplish. If you say you are worthless, washed up, stupid, incompetent, fat, stupid, ugly, broke…then that is what you will believe and that is how you will act. Negative self-talk leads to negative self-esteem, and negative self-esteem will only lead to further substance abuse in order to escape your own shame and pessimism.

And the only thing worse than isolating with yourself and listening to your negative self-talk is isolating with a group that affects you negatively. If you hang out with losers you will stay comfortable being a loser. If you hang out with heavy drinkers or partiers, then you will stay comfortable drinking too much and partying instead of truly experiencing life and creating the life that you want.

So start with these steps, TODAY and make some critical positive changes:

1)      Start your day by TELLING yourself that you are the positive version of anything negative that you routinely tell yourself. For example, if you usually tell yourself that you are fat and worthless and a pathetic out-of-control drinker, then start your day by repeatedly telling yourself, “I am a beautiful / handsome thin person that is successful and totally in control of myself.”

2)      Catch the negatives when they start to come into your mind or out of your mouth and turn them into positives.

3)      Write the positive affirmations on sticky notes or in your phone or computer so you see them often…and READ them when you see them!

4)      Get out of isolation. With social media these days, there are so many virtual groups to choose from. Find a group of people that share your interests (not your bad habits) and share your passion for those things. It doesn’t have to be improving your business or fitness, but some as pleasant as bird-watching.

5)      Try to find a local group that you can meet with physically – do searches on digital versions of your local newspapers, try MEETUP.com, or check out bulletin boards in your coffee shops or community centers.

6)      AND REDUCE (or if possible, ELIMATE) contact with the negative influences in your life. It’s impossible to pull negative people up to your level. It is much easier for negative people to drag you down to their level…or at best, you drag them up half way….but that still means that YOU have been PULLED DOWN!