Life isn't always easy. Sometimes, even the strongest people amongst us need a little bit of help to work through some of life's challenges. Everyone has battles to fight and hurdles to overcome at some point. Whether you struggle with work or family issues or more personal problems like anxiety, depression, or self-esteem, know that there is always someone you can reach out to. You might be initially hesitant to reach out for support with private concerns, but when you do, over time you will hopefully feel more positive and reassured that your stress can get better with some hard work and a good support system. Almost no problem is too big to overcome with dedication, self-regulation, and perseverance, along with some outside intervention as needed. Whether it is taking that time for yourself that is so overdue or seeing a counselor for therapy to get to the root of the concerns and maybe set up some goals, there is a solution within reach. Through therapy, there is always a way to collaborate with your counselor and address the issues you face, learn coping strategies to help you not only with your present troubles, but anything that you may be challenged with in the future. To become a more fulfilling, happier, calmer you, self-care and remembering to reach out for help as needed is recommended, and essential. With self-care there are so many options to help take away some of that stress and anxiety. Whether you take a walk for a few minutes to clear your head, exercise to decompress for a bit, read a favorite book, start a journal with your thoughts/feelings logged each day or something else JUST for you. Sometimes, taking a few minutes to write down some positive statements helps you change your mood as well. These statements, or Affirmations, can, with practice, put an end to self-sabotaging concerns and negative thinking. Affirmations can be written in any formation for any problem whether for your job, home, anxiety, depression, or self-worth, if they are positive, you repeat them often, learn to believe in them and work on making those positive changes needed, things will work out for the best. Instead of approaching that situation you become so worked up over, why not try to reverse those tense and negative thoughts by coming up with some positive statements to reach out for when this type of thing happens to you. When I started this, I took a trip to our local craft store and purchased a small wooden box, painted it and cut up colored printer paper to put my positive statements on. As I felt myself getting anxious at home, I would grab the box and start reading and re-reading the positive messages I wrote as well as the ones my sweet husband had put in there. After a few practice runs, it really does make a difference. To rid those negative feelings and thoughts, you have to introduce something positive and new….and practice saying them regularly. Positive affirmations, when they become part of your everyday routine, can retrain your brain to form positive self-talk and minimize the negativity. Practice Brings Something New: Each day is a new chance to start something beneficial- every morning when you wake up or before you begin your day, take 3-5 minutes to read one of your affirmations. Taking the opportunity while you are getting dressed, brushing your teeth (I know someone that hangs a few on her mirror in the bathroom), or eating breakfast gives you the chance to make this affirmation reading a habit. Do your best to repeat each affirmation about 5-10 times. Reading and Repeating will help you reinforce the affirmation so you can think of it as needed in other situations. If you feel comfortable doing so, you can combine affirmations with meditation and/or creative visualization. You may find you like one technique more than the other with the affirmations. Don’t stress if it doesn’t feel right the first few times, and be patient with yourself, for some there may be many years of negative situations, self-talk, and thoughts to get rid of…but it will happen…. believe in yourself, you can do this! “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you're right.” Henry Ford THE ABC’S OF AFFIRMATIONS: A: Avoid negative situations and habits B: Believe in Yourself—I repeat, BELIEVE in yourself C: Consider things from every aspect D: Don’t Give Up or Give In E: Enjoy Life for the Here and Now F: Family and Friends are Treasures-Enjoy them G: Give More than You Planned To H: Hang on to Your Dreams I: Invent and Invest in Yourself J: Just Do IT K: Keep Doing Your Best and Trying No Matter How Hard It May Be L: Love…Learn from Your Mistakes and to Move On M: Make It Happen N: Number 1! You are necessary and needed! Natural! O: Open-minded, Optimistic and Outstanding P: You are pleasurable, pleasant, profound and have purpose! Q: Quiet and quite amazing R: You are resilient, remarkable, and resourceful! S: You are smart, strong, and spicy T: You are thoughtful, terrific and a treasure U: You are unbelievable, unbreakable, and unique V: You are vibrant, valued, and vivacious W: Worthwhile, wise, and well-mannered X: You are expressive, excellent, and expressive Y: You are YOU! Youthful, and Young at Heart-You Be You! Because that’s awesome! Z: You have a zest for life! You are zany, zealous and zazzy! These are just a few silly affirmations, or you can easily make up your own! Have fun with it, you will feel and see a difference.
