I used to never consider myself an “affirmations” person. For most of them, my analytical brain simply refused to acknowledge it (“there are no peer-reviewed studies showing that I am made of love and light”). But I still get lost in sauces, so I had to create my own that were absolute truths (for me) to regroup and focus on what’s important.
3. “When the game changes, I change my game.”
Catchy
Easy to remember
Just a quick reminder to about resilience and the ability to “ride the waves”. The ideas and plans I create are meant to serve me, not the other way around. So I can bob and weave just like the world around me does. Plus it sounds cool, like a superhero catchphrase.
2. “…shatter my identity and do my impossible.”
Gets me to do uncomfy or not-yet-comfy things
Customizable
The beginning phrase of this varies depending on the situation e.g. “I enjoy shattering…” or “I make myself proud when I…“. Whatever propaganda is needed at the time!
A girl likes a box sometimes. If I’m not careful, scrunching up inside some cardboard walls and keeping my head down like a cat is the only thing I want. But I know the wishes for my life and my desires and interests, and I’ve gotten to know them well.
They’re going to require that I leave the box.
Daily schedule and routine is a good way to ground, so I needed something that told me that it’s okay to do something that I wouldn’t normally do. I need a reminder that I can still evolve and change. Life is happening right now, time divisions are arbitrary, so I wanna try my best to rise to the occasion when I see it.
At some point, I heard that the most successful people are ones that are always willing to shatter and reconstruct their identity (can’t remember where - YT video I think), and that’s when I realized how rigid my mindset had become. “I’m not a morning person”, “I don’t like swimming pools”, all these things that while they could be evidence-based from past experiences, they might not even hold true anymore - when was the last time I had even tried waking up super early? It gave me an icky feeling, like I had been limiting myself this whole time without knowing it. At a point, I made a journal entry that started with “I could never…” and made a list of stuff. Some things I’ve actually tackled (like swimming), some things I tried and didn’t like (like working out super early in the morning), and some are still TBD, but I now feel like I can actually experience the richness of life through my true eyes, not the ones I forced myself to have.
1. “Love is a bench. When in doubt, rest in love.”
Memorable in crisis mode
All-encompassing
My favorite - it gets to the heart of many affirmations. It tells me so much in so few words. It tells me where my priorities lie, where inside myself to look to for guidance, what to watch for if I’m stuck, that it’s safe to go with my gut. It also reminds me that it’s okay to veer off a path to show myself that I matter, that my feelings matter, that my desires matter. Every moment that I can tell yourself that and have my own back is an opportunity to love by “doing”. This also gives permission to exhale and assess the worthiness of a situation/environment I’m in instead of letting the situation/environment assess my worth. It’s the ultimate “break in case of emergency” phrase.