Negative Self Talk

Some people say that negative self-talk is just that…negative. 

But I don’t fully agree. 

If it is going to help you make a better choice to realize that you don’t want a negative end result, then that is a very good thing. I like how I look in clothing now. Correction, I LOVE how I look in clothing now. I am glad to have my picture taken. Heck, I seek out opportunities to have my photo taken! I walk in rooms without wondering who is asking who the fat person is or silently thankful that it is me, not them, that is the largest person in the room. 

And sometimes not so silently. 

I actually had someone tell me that once. To my face! 

They came up with a bit of excitement on their face and gushed out that they were so glad to see me walk in because now they were not the biggest woman in the room. I wanted to strangle them. I wanted to twist their thumb around on a broken joint so it looked like they were the perpetual Fonz. I wanted to cry and run screaming from the room. But since none of those were possible, I simply feigned ignorance at their cruel comments and said, as sweetly as a frosted Paula Deen baked good….”Oh honey, not everyone can be fabulously statuesque like I am. God loves his little people, too!” and walked away with as much of a regal air as I could muster and keeping myself from crumbling into a pile of sobbing mess.

Last winter we had a few days of no warmer than 9 degrees. Cold that sunk into my bones and stayed there until I was wrapped well in a hot blanket or standing in a nearly scalding shower for an extended period of time. But I still ran. I told myself how unhappy I’d be if I skipped my run, and how lazy I was being due to some cold weather and that any excuse would do!  Then I’d get myself out there in three layers of pants and run. And you know what….I never once regretted that run in the freezing cold. In fact, a few days when I said I was only going 4 or 5 miles I instead did 5 or 6. I had admonished myself in a good way and the result was a positive one. 

So yes, if negative talk is going to break you down then it is a bad thing, but when it makes you realize that there are better choices out there…I think it is actually a real positive to have some negative self talk!