Being a dyed-in wool “recovering” perfectionist and deeply brutal with myself, learning to heal my relationship with my negative self-talk is a life-long mission. While I take it very seriously, I have found awareness, humor, and creativity to be my most effective tools in which to do that.
Here are the three traps that I’ve seen my clients, colleagues, and people in my life fall into when dealing with their negative self-talk:
- Fight- Criticize both yourself and “the voices” for being there. YOU will always lose.
- Flight- Deny their existence and bludgeon your way through. What we resist, persists, end of story. Total buzzkill and ineffective.
- Freeze- Do nothing. Be a victim. Let old outdated negative beliefs dictate your actions and rule your life.
But there’s a four-way far more powerful, GET CURIOUS and CREATIVE.
Embrace IT! The more we embrace (not the same as coddle and engage with it) our negative self-talk, and use our innate curiosity and creativity, the less power it’ll have on us, and the more power we will have to make different choices.
Check out my video on “How to Overcome Negative Self-Talk” and see how humor and creativity can be a game-changer.