Be Your Own Champion

Prior to launching my blog, I was absolutely terrified. I was paralyzed by the thought of putting my thoughts and ideas out there to the world for all to see. But I was conflicted, because I also felt strongly about my belief that we are all connected in our experiences and I felt a calling to find my voice and make it known. Finally, I decided to bite the bullet, after talking about launching my blog for nearly a year, and I hired a life coach to help me get out of my own way.

I have always been someone who frequently criticizes myself. I hold myself to a high standard, and when I fail to meet those standards, I tend to over-criticize and over-scrutinize every aspect. I basically punish myself for areas where I felt as though I had failed myself or someone else.

What I am beginning to question is, How is that productive? What do I get out of putting myself down and beating myself up for making a mistake, having a bad day, making a bad choice? Nothing about that negativity changes the situation. It actually seems to breed more negativity and bad choices.

To combat this mental self-sabotage, my coach suggested that I look in the mirror at the start of each day, address myself by name, and compliment myself. I opted to embrace this exercise by telling myself the following statements:

I am a beautiful person inside and out, I have awesome things to share with the world, and I am making a difference in someone’s life!

The simple act of choosing to Become My Own Champion transformed my perspective about myself, my life, and everything around me. As I was reviewing pictures to post for my blog, my thoughts of myself lacked their usual critical analysis. I continued with this routine throughout the week and found that my overall attitude in all aspects was surprisingly upbeat and light-hearted. My mom even delivered some news to me that she was convinced would upset me (and it probably normally would have), but I instinctively reacted in an incredibly positive way, simply feeling gratitude for her loving me so much as to take the action she did just to make me feel good.

I assure you, these reactions are a far cry from my previous negative internal dialogue that judged and criticized myself to a fault, then drudged through the day like I had to instead of attacking the day like I wanted to. I am certain that many of you can identify with the former. Hopefully, some of you may also have experience with the more positive option. I welcome you to share your experience in the comments if you do either way!

This exercise got me thinking about how powerful our thoughts really are! Is it really true that we can transform our whole world by simply changing our thoughts? Do you have any experiences where you have noticed the impact that your thinking has had on your life in a positive or negative way? I challenge you to pay attention to your thoughts and take note on how it impacts your attitude and your perspective! Go a step further, try to transform the negative thought into a positive thought. What changed? Anything? Everything? My bet is yes.

In my Dream Big post I challenged you to embrace your wildest dreams. The experience that I just shared with you is my first example on how you can make that possible. What sort of thoughts do you think about your dream? If you tell yourself it is impossible, it is. If you believe that it’s possible, it is. You have to be your own best friend, your own cheerleader, your own champion. If you don’t believe in yourself, who else will? If you don’t believe it, why should anyone else? I challenge you to transform your thinking! Dig deep and become your own champion!

I spent many years waiting for something miraculous to happen that was going to magically insert purpose and meaning into my life. What I see now, is that life is about action. In order to take action, you have to believe in that action. To believe in yourself, you have support yourself in your thinking. If you believe it’s a pipedream, that’s all it can ever be. If you believe it’s the next big thing, then embrace it. Now I hear the skepticism as you are reading. Not everyone can have the next big thing.

But you don’t know if you don’t try. And the truth is, even if it’s not the next big thing, it might lead you to your next big break. No one is going to do the work for you. You have to become the Hero in your story. So find your jam, tell yourself the best things you can possibly believe and see what happens. Positivity breeds positivity, misery loves company.

The choice is yours! One thing I do promise, if you Become Your Own Champion, you will not be disappointed.