How to Change Your Self-Concept
Be the hero of your own story and make strides to change the way you think by simply changing the language you use.
It's become a HABIT for us to talk down to ourselves, we were told as kids that we need to study harder, run faster, do more, be better, etc.
When we grew up, society told us more or less the same things. Except now, it was personal. Now it wasn't our parents or teachers or peers saying we were not up to par, now it was our own minds saying,
"You're not smart enough. Look at her, she has a 4.3 GPA and has a full ride to Stanford."
"You're not fit enough. She said in her Instagram caption that she got her arms and thighs naturally."
"You're not skilled enough. LinkedIn says you only match 6/10 skills for that job that 147 other people applied to."
"You're not doing enough. She's president of two clubs, volunteers on the weekend, has a boyfriend, works part time, and is a full time student."
Take these steps to change:
1. Stop yourself every time you say "I'm so dumb," or, "I'm so ugly," even if you think you're just joking.
Everytime you catch these microaggressions towards yourself, you become more aware of how mean you are you yourself.
2. Start apologizing to yourself and correcting your speech. Follow these microaggressions with,
"Sorry [YOUR NAME] , you're actually not [dumb/ ugly/ fat/ untalented/ whatever negative adjective you said]."
Yeah, it can feel frickin' weird to apologize to yourself.But you need to get used to it.
3. Once you get comfortable, you can level up to actually complimenting yourself!
Congrats! Now you're teaching yourself that it's not okay to disrespect yourself and it's okay to be kind to yourself!