You Are what You Say

It’s been said that the power of life and death is in the tongue. Your words, the ones you say to yourself and others, have the power to destroy life or bring it. Both negative and positive words have a profound impact on your self-esteem, your relationships with others and your quit plan.

Negative self-talk not only destroys your self esteem, it literally steals your time, which is all we really have. For instance, if you had a smoking binge last night and woke up saying, “I’m so stupid for picking up that cigarette!” you probably will then feel pretty lousy about yourself. You may actually mope around for the rest of the day, or even the rest of the week, feeling depressed. This attitude, which all stemmed from words you said to yourself that morning, and are actually creating more stress. This stress may make you more likely to smoke yet again.

In contrast, Positive self-talk brings you to a point of forgiveness and restores your self esteem. If instead of giving yourself a verbal thrashing, you said to yourself, “I’ll do better today,” you are more likely to forgive yourself for slipping. This may also make it easier to handle the withdrawal symptoms that may surface after a smoking binge.

Nearly everyone who has tried to quit smoking has at some point slipped and had to start their quit plan over from the beginning. Forgiving yourself and moving on with your quit plan simply acknowledges that you are human. When we tell ourselves we are worth forgiving, we not only restore our self esteem, we literally give ourselves our life back. Now, that’s something to talk about!