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Speaking Life

Ella Steinwandel Student Contributor, St. Bonaventure University
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at SBU chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

How you talk to yourself matters.

As someone who considers herself a confident girl, the one thing that holds great importance to me is speaking positively to myself. 

Words are human’s most powerful force. We get to choose what we say and how we say it in any given situation. What we say matters, and it only takes a few words to make an impact, whether that’s negative or positive.

It may sound silly, but I love to talk to myself. Every morning when I wake up and walk over to my desk to get ready for my day, I turn on my vanity lights and look at myself. I give myself affirmations of the day, stating that I am strong, confident, beautiful, etc.

As an ex-insecure girl, I believe that this has really made a difference. Our words have a huge impact on our health and well-being. Speaking down on myself or others makes me feel down myself. It is now part of my daily routine to give five compliments a day: to myself and to others. Those few words have given me a sense of confidence. 

I recently saw a quote that stated, “The loudest voice we hear is our own voice.” 

I’ve been reflecting on this because it truly opened my eyes to see how quiet but powerful that voice inside of us is.

When we hear ourselves speak negatively about ourselves, it quickly becomes our reality. If you tell yourself you’re ugly, you’ll begin to truly believe that. Which is crazy because each and every one of us was fearfully and wonderfully made. If you tell yourself you’re going to fail that test, you’ll probably sike yourself out and actually fail the test. If you tell yourself you’re not confident, you’ll never get out of your head and gain that confidence. 

So, speak life.

I have become more aware that talking to myself positively is a key tool in boosting confidence, lessening stress, and improving my all-around health.

Our self-talk matters. It is so normalized to point out the negatives that a lot of the time we forget to notice the positives. This is a destructive habit that we all need to break. 

I wonder if you try to only speak life for one day, how much better you will feel during that day than you did yesterday. Why don’t we all try it? Pay attention to how you talk to yourself. More often than not, it’s critical. 

Your one day of only speaking life starts now. 

Ella Steinwandel is a new Her Campus chapter member at St. Bonaventure University. Ella is excited to write about self-care, trends, lifestyle, beauty, and friendships! She can't wait to put her passion for writing to use and meet all of the other writers and girls in this chapter!

Ella is currently a freshman majoring in marketing with hopes to work in the beauty marketing field after her years at St. Bonaventure. She loves to be involved in everything going on at her school. In addition to Her Campus, Ella is a member of the Power Yoga Club, SBU@SPCA, and the Dance Team. She is also very eager and excited to discover more clubs and organizations on campus!

In her free time, you can most likely find Ella journaling, watching a new series on Netflix, listening to all kinds of music, and hanging out with her friends. Her friends and family are the most important to her, as she will eagerly talk about them at any chance she can! Ella loves to travel and explore new places and she loves to be outside and active, discovering new things, especially on the new campus she calls home, St. Bonaventure!