Have you ever beaten yourself up? Of course you have! We have an uncanny ability to ruthlessly ruminate on our shortcomings. Have you ever tried to denounce those thoughts? Challenging your inner voice is no easy task, however, recovering from my mental illness has given me the tools I need to “flip my mind”. Such skill has allowed me to value and advocate for myself.

So today I have a challenge for you! I want you to make a list of negative adjectives. For this exercise they need to be key negative descriptors that you use to describe yourself.  Then I want you to go to thesaurus.com and type in those words one at a time. With each word synonyms (same) and antonyms (opposites) of those words will be returned. I then want you to write down on your list next to the negative word your favorite antonym.

*Note: Sometimes our descriptors do describe characteristics about ourselves but the words we choose to use have a negative association. In a case where the antonym doesn’t apply check out the synonym list for a more positive descriptor. For example, one of my negative words is impulsive. An antonym is planned, but even though I can be careful at times I usually make decisions upon instinct so antonyms don’t apply. My favorite synonym would be passionate or intuitive.

Keep this list handy so the next time your inner voice puts you down you can build yourself up by using the antonym list. Here is an example of mine!

Did you have a hard time flipping your mind? Feel free to comment for help!

I am:

Lazy/// Caring

Impulsive// Passionate or intuitive (synonym)

Weak// Unbreakable

Flaky// Unconventional (synonym)