Do you ever find yourself caught up in your past negative experiences, re-living them over and over again in your head. Going through all the gory details – “what if I had done that, why didn’t I do that, I can’t believe I did that, what are people thinking of me”
Last week I had to give a presentation on a piece of work I did to 10 people and my voice shook the entire presentation. I didn’t take a breath to compose myself and I couldn’t get it together. Despite the fact that I give presentations all the time and more often than not am fine, this particular event deeply affected me.
I analyzed the situation to death and cringed every time I thought about it. It affected the way I showed up in my day to day interactions and lowered my confidence. I felt stupid and a failure and was dreading the next time I had to present.
Until… I changed the story I was telling myself in my head.
You see we all tell ourselves stories (they are how we see the world around us, our perspective, but they are not necessarily true or reality. We may think and feel that they really are true for us and this can keep us stuck in the same old patterns of thoughts and this in turn affects how we behave and show up in the world and our beliefs.
So I decided to change my story.
I decided to tell myself a positive one and give myself a break.
Yes that may not have been my best presentation ever but I got up and did it, I told those people about my idea and showed them what I had built and guess what they really liked it. Even if my voice was shaking they still understood what I had done and wanted me to continue my work on it. We all have off days and that is okay. The most important thing was I tried and that I try again and I keep showing up. I am human and I am passionate about what I do so I’ll keep doing it.
See how this story is a much more positive and uplifting one? It made me feel a sense of peace and calmness and enabled me to step up and out of the negative energy I had put myself into.
These days I regularly cultivate and practice this way of thinking. If I am having a bad day or bad moment, I change my story.
Because:
I can.
I choose to.
It feels better.
I am the author of my story and life.
Life is too short to focus on the negative all the time.
I want to be happy.
I am beyond grateful that I am able to do this now and to be able to change my story quickly, it takes practice and awareness of how you are thinking but it is so so worth it lovely.
So I invite you to think of the stories you are telling yourself today. How have past events shaped how you look at your world today?
One thing I have learned is that you cannot change your past but you can learn from it.
Your point of power is in your present moment.
This moment right now is all we have so lets make it a good one.
Choose your positive story again
and again
and again
Moment by Moment.