Positive self-talk is so important for your mental health. The little things you say to yourself everyday make the biggest difference for how you feel about yourself and how you present yourself to others. Everybody wants to feel confident and have people think highly of them, but if you do not feel highly about yourself then it would be hard for others to feel that way about you as well. I am 100% guilty of saying these things, but I am working very hard to eliminate these phrases from my vocabulary and you should too! Here are some negative things many of us say about ourselves every day that are horrible for our self-esteem/ mental health.

“I cant do it” … GUYS never say never or that you cant do something. You can do absolutely anything you put your mind to. If you are constantly saying that you can’t do this or that, then you bet you will never be able to do it! Once you start replacing that sentence with, “I can do it” or “if I work hard enough, I will be able to achieve it” then you will be more likely to succeed. You can’t let the fear of failing be the reason you don’t try. No matter how hard something may seem, you can do it if you work hard enough!

“I hate my body” or “I wish I could change my (nose, legs, tummy, etc.)” … If you look in the mirror and pick out everything you hate about yourself, then it will make you feel so shitty. It will ruin your entire mood and overall lower your self-esteem tremendously.  For me, this is the hardest thing to stop saying to yourself. It is hard to learn to love yourself the way that you are. But, the first way to start working to more self-confidence is eliminating this phrase from your life. Instead, look in the mirror and point out everything that you love about yourself. When you are brushing your teeth in the morning take a few minutes to tell yourself how special and amazing you are. Doing this instead of picking out all the “bad parts” of you will become easier every day, and eventually you will rewire your brain to do this automatically.

 “What I say/do doesn’t matter” … Yes, it does. Nobody realizes how much of an impact they have on the world and other people. The things you do and say have the power to dramatically affect other people in either a positive or negative way. Doing something little like holding the door for the lady behind you or telling the Target cashier to have a great day can make a difference in their lives. You never know what other people are going through and being nice to a random stranger can be the reason they smile that day. I love the saying that, “at the end of the day people won’t remember what you said or did, but they will remember how you made them feel”. The lady behind you that you held the door for will remember how generous you were and how you saved her the struggle of opening the door while carrying 6 grocery bags. The Target cashier you were kind to will remember that you made her feel special and appreciated even when she was feeling worthless that day.  What you do/say matters!

These three phrases are things that so many of us say every single day. We are constantly talking to ourselves and have our own thoughts going through our head. If you are always saying negative things about yourself, then it will affect the way you feel about yourself and ultimately lead to you not reaching your full potential or happiness. Try to exchange these things with positive affirmations instead and see how it has a positive influence in your mind-set and life!

xoxo Em