Click here to schedule online counseling at Thriveworks.

Hi, I’m Rebecca Fry and I’m a Licensed Professional Counselor at Thriveworks. So the question that was asked are, “What are positive affirmations and how can they help me during this time of COVID-19?”

So a positive affirmation is simply a self-statement that empowers you to move through a period of distress to a period of feeling calm and capable. And so an example of such a statement might be:

Maybe you’re working hard at work and you’ve got a big project to do. And it’s causing you some sense of overwhelm or you’re feeling a little bit scared that you’re not going to be able to accomplish it. So you might be saying to yourself, “Oh, I’m overwhelmed. I can’t do this. This is too hard.” An example of a shift or a positive affirmation would be, “I can do this. I am capable of doing this and I have everything I need to make this happen.”

And while it can feel a little bit overwhelming at the time to stop and tell yourself a positive affirmation what will happen in time is that you will learn and it will become more natural and it will become much more easy for you to make the shift in your brain with the more practice you have.

So another example: maybe our children right now are struggling with online school, right? It’s a whole new world for them. And things are presenting as much more challenging than they might’ve been in the past because it’s new. And so what we might tell our children to say to themselves when they’re feeling distressed or feeling sad or, worried or scared, is, “You can do this, you can do hard things and I believe in you and you are loved.”

And what these positive affirmations do is they give a window of opportunity for our kids to know that regardless of how distressed they feel they are worthy of our love and that they are able to persevere and finish their tasks.

So what I’d like to remind all of us is that while this is hard to make this shift sometimes—it doesn’t come naturally and sometimes it can even feel a little disingenuous if we haven’t practiced it—is to remind yourself every day that you are worthy of love and respect and that you are getting through this and that you are navigating this as successfully as possible. And using positive affirmations is one way of redirecting your brain when it’s not feeling it’s best. When you’re feeling overwhelmed or scared and you can do this. Take care.