The Trap

Our world is full of wants and needs. When you don’t have material things, you feel underprivileged. When you don’t experience the same pleasures as others, you feel underprivileged. When you get older you start to acquire the things you lacked growing up. Your path in life changes and the world is a much bigger place.

You attain your goals; you keep going and never look back. You love the brand new you. You are finally living life and loving it. You have had a long journey and everything that you’ve worked hard for is finally paying off. But you still worry.

Don’t get caught in the trap. You know…the trap. The trap is the part of your mind that questions yourself. The trap leaves you with a felling of uncertainty. Do I deserve this? How long is this going to last? Will I lose everything that I worked so hard for? When is it all going to crumble? Will I become homeless?

Don’t have a pity party; your journey has brought you lessons specific for you to learn. Here’s another example of a trap. I didn’t have this as a kid. My dad did this, or my mom did this. We had to go without this, or there was no money for that, etc. If you join in this conversation you have not yet risen above it. If you smile and walk away, you have acknowledged that you’ve survived the situation and overcame the negativity surrounded by it, you are not stuck there. Sure, you need to look back to remember the hardships you’ve endured. A recollection should be used as a tool to measure your progress so you can celebrate all your accomplishments along the way.

How do you get out of the trap? It’s simple….affirmations! Affirmations can be a positive sentence or just one single positive word that lifts your spirits and keeps those nasty negative words from creeping into your brain and coming out of your mouth. Affirmations are great for lifting your self-esteem. Affirmations can help you regarding your personal as well as your professional life. Some examples of affirmations are as follows:

I deserve all the goodness and kindness that people have to offer. I deserve the riches that all my labor has to offer. I am a beautiful person inside and out. I am smart. I will get that promotion because I deserve it. I can do anything I put my mind to.

If you do not believe in yourself you will get sucked back into the trap. If you don’t believe in yourself how can you expect others to believe in you?

When you didn’t have food, or clothes or transportation or other things, you struggled. You struggled daily. You struggled with other people. You lived in a world of have and have nots. This was your world and your true measure of strength was by who was the toughest. A lot of the toughest people don’t change their life. The truth of the matter is; you are tough, you are a true survivor and you desire change. You don’t want to live in that lifestyle anymore; you want a better life for yourself and your family. So, try the affirmations. You have nothing to lose by trying them. Simply put a positive word or sentence on a sticky notepad and place it somewhere you will see it often, such as the bathroom mirror or the refrigerator, etc. Say the word or sentences as much as you possibly can during the day, carry it in your pocket as well. When you start to say something negative, you can replace it with a positive word.

See the changes, if you can’t tell if it’s working, look to others. The people around you will respond to you. Younger ones might mimic you, how awesome is that! Change is something that you have to desire. Let your heart and your mind lead you someplace better, a place you deserve to be. You have to do the work to get there, and that takes devotion. Wishing you encouraging thoughts on your journey!