How’s your Self Talk

This week my daughter had a school assignment based around the self talk of athletes and how they can use positive thought processes to help them with their performance. It also highlighted how powerful self talk is in all life situations, and it made me realise that during these uncertain times, and continued lockdowns, how important it is that we use positive self talk to help us survive and move through troubling times.

What is self talk? It is that voice in your head that speaks to you constantly, telling you how you can or can’t do something, how to react to situations, how to respond to someone. It can make or break you if you are not aware of it.

Listen to that voice. Is it constantly telling you how you can’t achieve something? You can’t get your goal because you are not worthy. No-one likes you? You don’t deserve success? That is your negative voice putting you down, and often making excuses for not achieving the success you desire.

But the good news is, you can turn that voice around and make it positive. The first step is to be aware of what your self talk or inner voice is saying. Listen to what it says and how it says it. If it is negative or a put down, then reword the thought into a positive way of speaking instead.

For example, when you hear “I don’t deserve success”, you will automatically stop trying to achieve success. You may give up, become despondent, and likely not even try to work towards succeeding. But if you catch your inner voice saying this and respond by saying “I am worthy and deserve to be happy”, you may find yourself lifting in posture and confidence and even have a desire to give it a go and prove your inner voice wrong.

Another tool is to think back when times were tough and remember how you survived that situation and what you did to work through it. We can use the lock-downs as an example (we have had 4 before us in Melbourne!). Yes, they have all been hard, but each time we have come out of them. So know we can again. In the meantime focus on the things you did and enjoyed in the previous lock-downs, things that made you happy, and ensure you add those into your day.

Hang in there. Stay positive. Stay safe. Stay happy.