There are a lot of people who think that when you start college, you already have an idea of who you are and are just making final touches to who you want to be. Then, once you finish college and start working, you are finally on your way to being the person you want and see yourself becoming. However, this is far from the truth. In college, everything and anything can change. Things that you used to love might lose their appeal, or things that you thought would be good for you could turn out to not be. Sometimes, people have to start from scratch trying to figure out who they are or who they want to be. Not everyone knows who they are and/or might have a negative view of themselves with little to no self-esteem.
No matter what it is you may be going through, we all could use some positive motivational mantras to tell ourselves to help us push through life. Maybe you have a big presentation coming up or you have an important exam approaching; whatever the case may be, you might need something to help remind you that you can and that you will succeed. A simple and easy way to incorporate some positive motivation in your life is through an exercise I learned from an old therapist of mine which I would like to call, “I am…”. For this exercise, I was told to write down six positive sayings starting with “I am” that I wanted to start believing. For my case I chose things that I didn’t like about myself that I wanted to like or feel better about on a 3×5 index card. Here are some examples:
‘I am a good sister’, ‘I am Beautiful’, ‘I am smart’.
Through these sayings, I wanted to get into my head that I am good sister to my brother instead of thinking that I am not, that I am smart instead of always feeling like I am stupid, that I am beautiful no matter how many people in my past have told me otherwise. I wanted to view myself in a better light so I can live a happier life, to be more confident in what I do, and to go for my dreams.
I would place a motivational index card somewhere I would see all the time and read it to myself. For me, I put it on my mirror in the bathroom because that is where I do my make-up and my hair. Every time I saw it, I read those six sayings to myself. After a few weeks, I actually started to feel and believe the things I had written on that card and it made such a big difference in my life. I told some of my friends to try it out as well and it worked for them too. So, if it can work for us then it could work for you too.
For this exercise, you can list as many or as few “I am” sayings as you want. It can be written with whiteboard markers on your mirror or on a whiteboard, on paper, or an index card. It is up to you. Whatever it is that you want to work on, write it. Place the sayings somewhere that you see frequently and where you know you can read it to yourself. Try it out for a few weeks and see how you feel. You can change up your sayings for whatever you need to work on in that moment. If you have a test coming up you can do, ‘I am going to pass that chemistry exam’. Your options are endless so don’t be afraid to write down whatever it is that you want to work on.
This is something you can do no matter what time in your life that you need it. I hope this helps you as it did for me and my friends.