The 3 Affirmations that Help Me Through Even the Hardest of Times
And can help you do the same
I didn’t realize how powerful affirmations were until I started using them myself.
No matter how grave the situation is or how overwhelming your emotions get, the right affirmation can pull you ashore — they’re like reassuring angels you have 24/7 access to.
“Affirmations are our mental vitamins, providing the supplementary positive thoughts we need to balance the barrage of negative events and thoughts we experience daily.”
And the deeper your conviction in a certain affirmation, the stronger its effect. So I’ll not only share my top 3 affirmations but will also convincingly explain the rationale behind them.
I hope even in the darkest of times, these 3 beacons illuminate your way.
Nothing. Literally Nothing Matters
You don’t have to be a nihilist to see how insignificant our problems, feelings, and lives themselves are — this universe-size comparison video is more than enough.
You and I are two among 7 billion humans living on a tiny planet orbiting a below-average star, part of a nondescript solar system, which is but a speck in the tiny MilkyWay galaxy which is almost invisible in the observable universe.
The “unobservable” universe is potentially infinite and there could probably be zillions of other such universes. What even are our problems then?
Even nothing would be an overstatement.
I don’t know about you, but I find this incredibly freeing. So when you feel everything crowding upon you, remind yourself that nothing matters.
That failed exam doesn’t matter. Your boss’s angry tirade doesn’t matter. That hot coworker rejecting you doesn’t matter. That snobby acquaintance’s stabby remarks don’t matter.
Suffering Is a Choice
With external factors largely controlling the puppet strings of our lives, most often, things don’t turn out the way we want them to.
From minor ones, like a manager’s heated tirade, to major ones such as the unexpected demise of a loved one, adversity is part and parcel of our lives.
But while adversity is inevitable, suffering isn’t — it’s a choice. Allow me to explain.
What we think of as objective concrete reality is actually just our perception — the output our brains spit based on the inputs from our senses. Our senses aren’t in our control, but our perception definitely is.
“Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you respond to the situation.” ― Victor Frankl
When a brain-splitting migraine hit, this affirmation alleviated the pain. Post a heart-rending breakup, it succored my mental wounds. And when I suddenly lost my grandfather? It was my anchor out of the sea of pain.
So during testing times, remind yourself that you are in absolute control of your perception — and you won’t suffer because you choose not to.
Give Zero F*cks About the Things Outside Your Control
As the Stoic dichotomy of control expounds, there are only two types of things — ones you can control and ones you can’t. And you only have to focus on the former. The latter is inconsequential.
Yes, nothing groundbreaking. It’s purely intuitive but emotions and circumstances can fog our thinking. Hence, a remainder can be greatly helpful.
This ridiculously simple principle can be surprisingly powerful. When my grandpa died, bringing him back wasn’t in my control. Composing myself, consoling my family, and thinking ahead were. And this affirmation helped me do just that.
Similarly, I couldn’t just will away my skull-hammering migraine. But what I could do was — bear it, meditate, and reduce my screen time to prevent another episode.
So, whatever the situation, mentally segregate the things you can control from the ones you cannot — then focus on the former and forget the latter.
If you failed at something, learn from it and try again. If you had an altercation with someone, reflect over it, find your mistakes, and make it up to them. A rejection? Take it cooly and move on — there are billions of others.
If life pushes you down, brush the dust off your trousers, get back up, and continue walking.
Final Words
The magical thing about affirmations is that the more you use them, the stronger they get.
This is due to two chief things:
- Repetition trains your neural circuits to be more efficient. Do enough of this and it’ll get programmed into your subconscious.
- Every usage makes you feel better, in turn reinforcing your belief in the affirmation.
So freely use them. Be your own cheerleader — no one’s better at reassuring you than you yourself are.
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