10 Years SoberSample

Day 7: What’s Your Self-Talk?

Did you know we each have somewhere between 50,000 and 70,000 thoughts each day? What are you thinking about yourself? What’s your self-talk sound like? Are you speaking positively to yourself or are you dragging yourself?

Your thoughts will dictate your destiny. What you think about yourself will have a direct impact on where your life goes. Your future, your success, your friendships, the fruitfulness of your life… all if it is programmed by your self-talk.

So what are you saying about yourself? What’s your first thought each day? Your last thought?

Outside voices can end up diluting and destroying our self-talk. And yes, that includes media voices like music, movies, and television, but most importantly, it includes people. The negative voices of those around you steal your potential future. If you’re around people who bring you down, who use horrible language, who gossip, who complain, then you’re going to dilute your self-talk. That’s why we must surround ourselves with positive, uplifting people… and be that kind of person for others.

But here’s the question that can really hurt: are you the negative voice in your life? Take an honest assessment of the way you talk about yourself. I’m not saying you need to be a Pollyanna about the realities of the world, and I’m definitely not saying you need to be like an addict who rationalizes and justifies everything as someone else’s fault. I’m saying you need to be honest about yourself and ask: are you being too critical, too negative, too harsh?

Here’s a challenge for you: for the next week, practice an over-the-top, super-positive form of self-talk and see where it leads. How do you think you’ll feel by the end of the week? You may be surprised!