Most of us tell ourselves different stories for various reasons, but how many of those stories are resourceful? Truth be told, some of them are making you sick and miserable.

Read more to find out why.

Daily affirmations as a means of living a better life

There is a very logical reason why self-affirmations have a big influence on us. Whether good or bad, they can rewire our perception of ourselves. Here’s why. 

My personal story with daily affirmations

As a student, I worked at a local bakery to make means end. I was hard-working and very diligent and I had that going for me. Unfortunately, my lack of assertiveness combined with my scrawny figure made it easy to get picked on.

Many of my colleagues would make jokes or disregard me altogether. My superiors would take advantage of my inability to stand up for myself and at times, I was bullied. Despite being the hardest worker in the joint, I oftentimes found myself being a victim of disrespect and arrogance. Sometimes I would be humiliated in front of my coworkers, but I would suck it up and put a fake smile on my face.

Times were rough, but I had to do what I had to do. I was mistreated, but I needed the money to put myself through school.

Long story short, graduation day came and I quit. A happy ending to a sad story, but the worst was yet to come.

Here’s what happened

The experience cultivated a futile belief system in me and I embraced some very corrosive self-affirmations that left me damaged for the next couple of years.

During my time at the bakery, I adopted a very dangerous mindset. My skinny physique and the constant bullying rewired my nervous system to believe that the only way to gain respect from superiors is by being physically superior. And I started reiterating this daily affirmation to myself.

Naturally, I became a slave to this idea and I attached my self-worth to it.  The years that followed were marked by a set of self-destructive daily affirmations – that I would be a subject of admiration and esteem if I keep getting bigger and muscular.

So I started going to the gym and working out. Along with that, I started a serious bulking phase, going from 67 kilos to 85 kilos in less than two years. I was packing on muscle mass and I was making all kinds of gains.

Not to mention that I genuinely believed that girls would queue up in lines to date me if I was big and jacked. I was convinced I would form better relationships with people if I am physically superior. I felt sorry for all the skinny men out there because in my mind, being jacked was essentially the way for a young man to be treated with respect.

But as time went by, I slowly realized that my daily affirmations were rather daily deceptions. I wasn’t getting the respect I was hoping for. Girls were most certainly not lining up for me. I still felt like that inferior, insecure boy. Being big and muscular did not solve anything for me. All it did was destroy my social life.

Because in my very core, I was essentially the same person. With the same mindset, insecurities, and behaviors. The same person, with a new, hollow affirmation – that being huge will get you accolades and respect.

Why was I wrong?

I was wrong because my daily affirmations were focusing on something beyond my control – people’s perception of me.

Instead of focusing on the internal, I focused on the external i.e. become huge to gain someone else’s admiration. As soon as I realized that, I got off this vicious cycle of lifting weights like crazy and eating insane amounts of food.

I adopted more resourceful thoughts. Today, my daily affirmations are focused on what I can actually change – my attitude and beliefs about myself.

That’s it, folks. Be mindful of the thoughts you adopt. They can heal your wounds, but they can also make them even deeper. Your ideas can make you sick without you even knowing it.

Have you ever had a damaging self-affirmation? Let me know down below.