Glow From The Inside Out: AVOID Being Your Own Worst Enemy!

We all know that in many life situations, WE can be our own worst enemy. Our negative thoughts and habits can consume us! Let's reflect on what the problem may actually be. If you truly sit back and think, most of the time the problem is ourselves. Our bad choices, our thoughts, our actions or lack of actions, etc. If we get ourselves out of the way, in most situations, we will see some of our problems dissolve or not impact us as negatively. In this post, I will discuss ways to avoid becoming our own worst enemies from our thought processes. Since we are on the subject of being your own worst enemy, and I primarily write about SKIN, coming up in the next post, I will discuss how to not be your SKIN'S worst enemy. Realistically, it is all tied together... negativity causes stress, and STRESS causes health issues, unhealthy relationships, unhealthy eating habits, that all cause unhealthy skin! For now, I want to focus on our inner beauty... after all, we all want to glow from the inside out :) 

One thing I think we can agree to be a common problem among most of us: That little voice in our heads repeating negative things like we CAN'T or that we aren't "good enough". Most of us don't realize we even do this to ourselves. Unfortunately, this internal battle can have such a huge impact on how we feel, function, treat others, and behave in general. I catch myself sometimes thinking things like, "I wish I didn't have so much work to do today...", or "I hope I don't screw this up..", etc. Pretty normal, right? When we make this a habit, we tend to only focus on the negative. The good news is, we can train ourselves to manage how we think. 

Negative thoughts drain us of energy and keep us from being present in the moment. The more we give in to our negative thoughts, the stronger they become. Just like a small snowball rolling along the ground. As it rolls, it becomes bigger and faster. It can spin out of control and cause significant damage. 

We must first realize that we do this to ourselves. Once you read this, start paying attention to your thoughts. Recognize that you may be convincing yourself that you WON'T, you CAN'T, you are NOT, etc. When you are starting to feel anxious or overwhelmed about something, listen to your thought pattern. Are you so focused on what may go wrong? Sometimes we can psych ourselves out before we even try! This causes our sense of hopelessness consume us, and we start to believe that negative voice.

Once you start to realize that you may be doing this to yourself, make note of it. Once you see some of the things you are running through your head, you will realize how negative, degrading, and just plain SILLY your thoughts can be! You will see how these thoughts can impact your performance and overall confidence. Just how likely are you to be successful at a task or even accomplish anything if you have already made up your mind that you will fail?

Once you have taken note of these thoughts, it is time to reevaluate them. You must create a different but realistic approach that you will give you a more positive result. I am not saying to tell yourself things like, "I will always succeed," or, "no one will ever hurt me...", etc. That is just not realistic, and chances are- you won't even believe yourself. Life happens, and sometimes life is not fair. Instead, we should train ourselves to think things like, "I can achieve this, and I will do my best to...". Instead of continuing to complain about how much work I have to do, I have learned to say, "I am so thankful I have a job, and insurance to support my family"... and, "I will do my very best today to do a great job; it will be a good day!"  Trust me, this makes it easier to deal with the day-in and day-out issues we all face everyday. It is all about perspective. We may not be able to control the crappy situations, but we can definitely control our attitudes. The way we chose to react to these inevitable crappy situations truly shows and builds our character.

"Watch your thoughts, they become words.
Watch your words, they become actions.
Watch your actions, they become habits.
Watch your habits, they become your character.
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny."

We must train ourselves to change these habits. Like anything that becomes a habit, it needs to be repeated. Like anything you were ever good at in your life, whether it be sports, music, math, etc.... you repeated or practiced it daily. It will be easy at first (like a new year's resolution), but also so easy to slack off. Consciously make yourself repeat these efforts, and you will start to see a difference! Pretty soon, you will have a new way of thinking that will become habitual. Make it a habit to be positive, and to lift yourself and OTHERS up.

By learning to manage our thoughts, we can make sure we aren't being our own worst enemy, and standing in the way of your own success and happiness. 
 Much Love, Meg