A Better Way to Give Yourself a Pep Talk
There’s a simple reason affirmations don’t work
I’m smart. I’m funny. I’m successful. People like me. This is a not-even-close-to-exhaustive list of things I wish I believed about myself on a given day –– the kind of stuff that, in the event no one else was around to give me a pep talk, I’d probably recite in a mirror with yesterday’s mascara running down my face. (All the more reason for a pep talk, I guess.)
As woo woo as it sounds, there’s plenty of evidence that cognitive behavioral therapy, a form of psychotherapy that can help people challenge self-sabotaging thinking and in turn change their behavior, works. Therapists often use CBT to treat depression and anxiety, but you use it every time you talk yourself out of an emotional spiral or give yourself a pep talk to do something hard.
Affirmations, or punchy, positive statements, are one way to redirect your thinking. Some people believe self-affirmations target the unconscious mind, and by doing so, they improve your emotional well-being and even impact your habits and routines. The problem is, when you feel like crap about yourself, looking in the mirror and saying “I’m awesome” doesn’t just feel silly. It feels like lying. And chances are, you won’t benefit too much from a pep talk you don’t actually believe.
