Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Word Affirmations

I don't know about all of you, but I'm stressed out. The end of the school year always brings on so much stress. Not only am I worrying about finals, but I have to worry about moving all my stuff out of my dorm room (I honestly don't know how we're going to get my futon out of the room!). I'm also worrying about Rome, which is a little ridiculous. It'll be my first time going on a plane all by myself, and I'm going all the way to Europe. Not only that, but I only know one another person from my school over there. I really am bad at meeting new people. Sigh.


Anyhow, the point of this post is to tell people how I deal with stress: through word affirmations. I've been known to worry excessively over things ever since I was a kid. I think it's genetic, since my parents are worry-warts too. One day my mom printed out a list of adjectives that she thought described me: one for every letter of the alphabet. Every night before she tucked me into bed, she'd make me say one of the words to myself. We'd go through the whole list over and over again, highlighting the words we completed with different colored markers each time.

I know, it sounds cheesy, but it really works. Seriously, right now, I want you to sit down and make a list of 26 adjectives, each corresponding with a letter of the alphabet (xylophonic is the only good "x" adjective there is, I'm warning you now).

Here's a list of the ones I just came up with:

*Amazing*Beautiful*Creative*Daring*Energetic*Fun*Gentle*Happy*Ingenious*Joyful*Keen*Loving*Meritorious*Nice*Outstanding*Preppy!*Quaint*Radient*Smart*Talented*Unique*Veracious*Witty*
Xylophonic*Young*Zealous

Because I'm a visual learner, I went to tagxedo.com, which made this funky little word cloud out of the 26 words I chose. It was really a lot of fun: you can customize the colors, the shape of the word cloud, etc.


Every night before you go to bed (or whenever you're stressed out, really) pick one of your adjectives and think of a time when you exemplified that adjective. I'm sure you can come up with a situation, and it'll give you a smile. If you do this every night, it eventually becomes a routine and gives you just a minute of positive thinking in your day.

Yes, I know, thinking of the adjective "amazing" tonight before I go to bed won't make my upcoming organic chemistry final any easier. But maybe, through repetition, I'll start believing that I am amazing: I can pass those finals and I can go to Rome by myself. We're human beings: we underestimate ourselves and never give ourselves enough credit. Practices like this can help boost our confidence just a bit.

P.S. I also made a word bubble out of the most-used words on my blog! Check it out.


18 comments:

  1. This is such a good idea! Definitely going to start employing this now that I'm getting stressed about exams, thanks :)

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    1. Yay, I'm glad I'm helping some people out! And I'm glad I'm not the only one stressed about exams...

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  2. Your best post yet! The affirmation word cloud is especially clever.

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  3. That is awesome. I, the eternal pessimist, should really try this, right after AP exams.

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    1. Ohhh, AP exams...good luck! I think they're actually worse than college exams. I'm sure you'll do fine though =)

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  4. Girl, you and me both. I am SO stressed out. Unlike other semesters I am not only trying to finish projects & portfolios, but now since I am graduating I am also adding on moving out of my apartment and looking for a job. AHH we can do it!!!

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    1. Aww, that does sound stressful. I can't even imagine that I'm going to go through all of that two years from now. But like you said, we can do this!

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  5. that is such a good idea! i try to say super positive, but my anxiety gets to me sometimes. love this :)

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    1. Thanks :) My anxiety always gets the best of me, so I find that this helps.

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  6. Great idea Becky! Thank you! I'm all stressed out too, so I think I'm gonna do it! And don't worry about Rome. Italy is fantastic. I mean it!

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    1. Aww, thanks so much! You're making me feel better. I hope that this helps!

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  7. That word cloud is awesome!!! I'm definitely going to have to steal the idea:) And since you're set to no-reply blogger, can you send me your email address? i always want to respond to your comments and they get bounced back to me:( Thanks! Xoxo

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    1. I didn't know I was set as no-reply! I changed the settings, so hopefully it's working now. Let me know if the emails still get bounced back!

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  8. I love the word cloud!!!!
    AND YES!!!! Fix your no-reply blogger status!!! I always want to reply to your comments, too!

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    1. I didn't even know there was a no-reply blogger status, haha. Guess I'm still a blogging newbie! I fixed it so hopefully it's working now.

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  9. I've nominated you for the Liebster Blogging Award! Come check it out at: http://theblondeinblue.blogspot.com/ !

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    1. Awww, thanks so much Brittany! I'm going to check it out now.

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--Becky