Words Matter

“Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me.”

Bullshit. Balderdash. Hogwash. Baloney. Bunk. Nonsense.

Story to prove the point:

Historically the self-talk within this here gal’s head was comprised of mainly negative words and derogatory statements in continuous loop. All day I would listen to things like . . . . . . on second thought, no. Not going into specifics here. I threw away that tape for a reason. You probably have sufficient imagination to think of the worst things you’ve ever thought or said about someone and that will give you a good idea of the constant dialogue. Dark and deadly phrases morning, noon, and night. Bottom line: not good. And guess what? I was depressed, shocking I know.

Still not sure how, but slowly my inner self has lost the bitchy oppressive tone and has become a friendly cheerleader. (I suspect that all of my awesome cheerleader friends and family are a part of that. Big shout out to y'all, I think you know who you are). Ready to ‘guess what’ again? Life is brighter now.

It’s still surprising to hear the new-and-improved Toni-talk. Nice, but surprising. The other day I actually had a Good Will Hunting moment (you know the one, where the Robin Williams character is telling Will that it’s not his fault over and over and Will starts crying?). I heard myself say in a tough moment; “You’re ok, and there’s nothing wrong with you. You can do this.” and I started to cry. (Unfortunately I was in the middle of my work day so in spite of it being an amazing breakthrough self-therapy moment it was also a bit embarrassing). Wow. Complete 180° turn. It’s amazing how I can handle life better just by hearing encouraging words. Hearing it from others is great and so greatly needed. But other people cannot be around all the time, and words in my head never go away.

What’s yourself telling your self today? If you need a cheerleader give me a call, and hope you can hear your own encouragement as well. Whatever it is you’re going through, you can do it!