Self Confidence/Self Image - Turning Pointe Autism Foundation

Self Confidence/Self Image 

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I’ve come to notice something about myself. I often think I can’t do things. No matter what it is.  Even if it’s as simple as doing something for a teacher or writing a blog post. I always think it’s going to be received terribly or I’m not doing my best work. Even though I’ll bring the project or whatever I’m doing to the teacher, and they say they couldn’t have done it as well as me. Or my boss will read my blog posts; email me and say, those were really good, keep writing. I automatically put myself down. It’s a given. It’s something I’ve done since I was a kid. I think it’s a learned behavior passed down from the older generations. I was just talking about this with my therapist yesterday. So every day for the next week, I’m going to try to say something, anything positive to myself. Kinda like affirmations, but more tailored to me. For instance; you can do this, you’ve done it before & excelled at it. Or maybe it’s time to take a break, then you can come back and finish. My therapist also taught me this technique where I separate myself from what’s happening around me. He said to say these words, I am not the thing that is bothering me, I may be stressed or upset, but that emotion isn’t me. I’ve used it a couple times, it’s pretty tricky to remember, but apparently it gets easier every time you use it. It’ll be worth it, if I can someday learn to love myself.