My Brain is a Mean Girl (But I'm Fighting Back!)

My heart was pounding; my breath was tightening — same old presentation jitters. But this time, a new jerk joined the party in my head. This jerk kept saying nasty things like

“You’ll mess up, like always.”

Ugh!

Negative self-talk, I call it. It's like a bully whispering mean things, making me constantly doubt myself. I figured everyone had this going on, a nagging voice in the background. But lately, this voice had gone rogue, totally bumming me out.

The worst part? I almost believed it. For example, after I tried (and failed) to learn that new thing, The jerk voice scoffed,

“See, you’re just no good at anything new. Why even try?”

But this time, instead of feeling like a total loser, I stopped. I listened to the jerk voice, dissecting its taunts.

Were they true? Was I doomed to fail? Heck no! I'd learned tons of new stuff before, even if it meant messing up sometimes. That's how we learn, right?

I started noticing these negative thoughts whenever they popped up.

Sometimes, they were loud and mean, other times sneaky and disguised as jokes. But the key was to acknowledge them, like,

“Oh hey, there’s that jerk-voice again, trying to hold me back.”

Just by recognizing them, I removed their power. They weren't some all-knowing truth anymore, just an annoying voice in the crowd.

It wasn't easy. Changing your brain chatter takes time, and the jerk voice still whispers sometimes. But guess what? Now I have a new voice in my head, too—a cheerleader voice! It reminds me of the cool stuff I've done, the things I'm good at, and that messing up is normal.

Negative self-talk might be a constant companion, but it doesn't have to be the boss.

I'm rewriting the story in my head by paying attention and telling it to take a hike, one positive thought at a time.

And if I can, you can too!