Influence Yourself: The Power of Change
We all have a bit of self doubt in us. There’s always going to be some aspect in our lives that we aren’t completely confident in and that’s perfectly okay. The problem comes in when that little bit of self doubt turns into you constantly beating yourself up and then you start to believe the thoughts you have or the words you say. That’s when it’s no longer self doubt, it’s self sabotage.
I ran across a book called You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero on a dark and gloomy day at work and thought to myself maybe you should give this book a chance. You’re a badass, right? Naw, you’re not but maybe reading this will help you become one. I realized that that thought alone was a self sabotaging thought or at least a thought that was trying to sabotage me. But I decided to give the book a try anyway. I mean, I’d already read a million self-help books before and they were all great but they didn’t make me have that lightbulb a-ha moment of realization.

In You Are A Badass, Jen Sincero does her best trying to convince her readers that they are in fact a badass. She touches in spirituality (or whatever higher force/power people want to believe in) and talks about how believing in something higher than yourself can ultimately turn your life around for the better. But there was one section that stuck out to me the most that allowed me to challenge myself and the way I think. She challenged her readers to take some time turning all their negative thoughts and actions into positive ones.
The objective of the challenge was to alter the way you viewed yourself and the things around you. For example, if you’re the type of person that will look at yourself in the mirror and think damn, I’m fat while lifting up your love handles and in the meanwhile not do anything to change that, you should change that thought to wow, I look good as hell. Simple mathematics, right? Yes and no. Changing the negative thoughts that you have into positive ones are a great way to boost the way you feel about yourself. It allows us to get into the habit of thinking more positively and feel a lot better about ourselves at the same time. However, with changing your thoughts from negative to positive, you also have to change your actions as well.
If you’ve been unhappy with a certain aspect of your life and figure that you’re going to start on a mission to change your life around, the first thing you need to do is decide what it is that you’re going to change and how you’re going to do it. Changing your thoughts while changing your actions go hand in hand.
I call the act of constantly thinking things that don’t uplift you while not taking action to change the things that you are unhappy about self sabotage because those thoughts that you constantly repeat to yourself or say out loud and the actions that you don’t make ultimately became a part of who you are and you start to believe them. We are our own worst enemy. We may encounter people in the world or situations around us that try to belittle us or harm us in some form or fashion but they can only be effective if the things that they’re saying about you are things that you believe about yourself.
When you’ve spent time turning every negative aspect in your life into positive ones, you’re building up your armor and shield against any force outside yourself that could try to cause you harm. But we are our worst enemy, so that armor and shield is also to protect you from your own self as well.
When you deny yourself the things that you want out of life and the things that make you happy, you’re denying yourself from all the gifts that the universe has to give. The crazy thing about it is that you’re deserving of all those gifts. The universe is an abundant universe and has so much to offer to everyone if you’d be willing to open your arms and accept them. But you have to open your arms to yourself first. When you deny those gifts, you deny yourself true happiness and there’s so much happiness to go around for us all.
You ever wonder why we’re easier on others and harder on ourselves? We deserve to treat ourselves with the same love and compassion and respect that we treat others with. In this day and age, there are so many distractions that are trying to pull us away from ourselves and throw us in an area of despair and hopelessness but we’re stronger than the negativity that’s trying to hold us back. It’s already hard enough dealing with outside factors, why continue to make life harder on yourself with constantly sabotaging your own well being?
Start now. Start by taking the time to change that self sabotaging behavior into self building behavior. Wake up earlier in the morning and get your day started on the right path. Take naps to replenish yourself (but don’t be lazy and just take naps for the hell of it). Join a gym and work on creating that body you’ve always dreamed of having or start going for midday runs in the park. Eat better and feel better about yourself. Start pouring into the people and things that you love. Stop thinking about what you aren’t and start thinking about what you are and watch as life does a 180 degree change for the better. Create the change that you want to be by influencing yourself to be the better version of you.
You are deserving and let Jen Sincero tell it, you are a badass! It time you decide to be one.
