The Words We Say to Ourselves

This morning, at my Weight Watchers meeting, the topic was centered on the words we say to ourselves. The leader asked us to write down the internal dialogue we have with ourselves when we're feeling stuck or discouraged. These were some of the responses that were shared:

I'll never be able to do this.

I'm not good enough.

I'll fail at this too.

I didn't lose enough this week.

Will I ever get this right?

I'm a failure.

I might as well give up.

It's validating to know I'm not the only one who thinks these things. I'm not the only one who has a discouraging inner dialogue going on in my head. We're in this together, and everyone feels discouraged at times.

The thing is, we'd never say these words to someone else. I would never say them to a friend, or even a stranger. And I wouldn't accept it if someone else said those words to me. So why do I allow myself to say them to me?

I think these types of words give me an excuse to not try anymore. When I say these words I want to give myself an out.  All of those phrases are followed by the words, "so why bother trying" when I say them in my head.

After that, we wrote on another piece of paper the words that we would actually say if a friend was stuck and was feeling discouraged.

I wrote these words:

You have strength and resilience that you have not yet begun to tap. Believe in yourself as much as I do. You can do this.

I need to internalize those words and make them part of my daily self-talk, so that when I feel discouraged I can get busy with the work of lifting myself up, instead of putting myself down.

What words are you going to say to yourself today?