Encourage Yourself and Others:
Reaffirm yourself and Build your Self-Confidence
STEP 6
It is very important for you to encourage yourself and others. As you know,
working on yourself to overcome any obstacle takes a lot of effort.
Your automatic negative thoughts seem to come more easily when you are practicing.
It is easy to get discouraged when you have a particularly hard day or you
experience a panic attack while facing a challenging situation.
Encourage Yourself
One thing that helps greatly is for you to take time to encourage yourself
along the way. You do this by re-affirming positive truths to yourself.
If you cannot do this easily in your mind, be sure to make a list of affirmations on paper and repeat them to yourself
when you are having a difficult time.
Some Easy Affirmations to Remember
I am healthy and strong.
I am working hard at conquering my
obstacles.
If I panic, this means I am learning.
A panic does not mean I am having a setback.
I will be okay.
I will do my best. My best is good enough.
I will not always be suffering.
I am learning more and more everyday.
It's okay to have good days and bad days.
I will overcome this!
Remember the importance of
building self confidence. The more you work at
encouraging yourself, the more self confidence you will have. Self confidence begins inside your mind!
Another way you can encourage yourself is by writing an encouraging letter to yourself as though you were someone else.
Since it's so much easier to encourage someone else than it is to encourage yourself,
pretend you are writing a letter
to a friend, then read it to yourself out loud.
Encourage Others
Believe it or not, it is helpful to encourage other people who are suffering with the same thing
you are suffering with. Many people find it easier to encourage other people than it is to encourage themselves.
By encouraging other people, you are really encouraging yourself. Whether you are speaking encouragement, or typing it out
to someone else, you are going through the actions of repeating truth to yourself. You end up helping yourself without
even realizing it.
Okay, so maybe you don't know anyone in your life that is going through the same things you are going through. That is when
you can involve yourself in an online community. There are forums, newsgroups, chat rooms, and online communities filled with people who are suffering
with the same thing you are suffering with. They can easily be found by searching for them in Google® or your favorite online search engine. Get involved and then begin encouraging other people! You will be amazed
at how fast you learn by doing this.
Step 6 Actions:
1. Make time to encourage yourself. Encourage a friend, or find an online community where you can encourage
someone else that is going through something similar.
2. Plan a time to enjoy yourself! Make yourself a priority!
3. Practice your
relaxation breathing. You can do this anywhere or anytime and as often as you
like.
4. Keep moving forward, taking steps to face your challenged situations. Affirm yourself!
5. Continue to eat right and drink enough water (Include
natural supplements if necessary).
6. Spend approx. 10-20 minutes each day on your choice of
isometric or
progressive muscle relaxation exercises.
7. Spend 20 minutes each day on aerobic or strength and toning exercises. These exercise the heart, as well as the muscles and they
also help burn excess adrenaline.
8. Write in a journal each day (preferably before bedtime). Don't pressure yourself, just write whatever comes to mind. Use the
Journal Entry Worksheet if you don't have a journal.
9. Do the Positive Thought Replacement worksheet at least once a day. If your thoughts are running rampant and going through
a particularly hard time, it helps to do this worksheet as many times possible throughout the day. As silly as this feels,
it is very important that you do not skip this exercise.
10. If you are struggling with obsessive thinking, take the time each day to practice
visualization
exercises and thought stopping exercises.
9. When you get into a great habit of encouraging yourself and others, it's time for
Step 7.
Do not move forward until you are ready!
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