What Are You Telling Yourself?

4 Toxic Phrases to Remove from Your Vocabulary

There’s a lot of freedom in letting go of what no longer serves you. Image created in CoPilot by author.

In her blog post, Life Audit, Jennifer Bassman suggests that everyone should complete a life audit to let go of what no longer serves them. It’s a good practice to promote personal growth and avoid staleness that can keep us stuck. One area you can start with is common words and phrases that probably no longer serve you.

Mindset shifts are tremendous because they can bring clarity — sometimes almost instantly. And clarity can change everything, as long as we’re willing to walk in the wisdom that clarity brings.

Here are four phrases I no longer say. This shift freed up mental and emotional space for joy and contentment.

I Should…

Our ‘should’ lists can contain the hard stuff: I should call the friend I lost touch with; I should visit my mother-in-law; or I should lose 35 pounds. Or they can be senseless things that we have somehow elevated to life-altering or necessary to be a good mom, wife, friend.

Thoughts like: I should document every first day of school like a good mom would, or I should make homemade lunches and sew my own pillows only serve to drain emotional energy that could be used in loving ourselves and others.