For Self-care Sunday this month we’ll be talking about all things back-to-school. One of the most important back-to-school topics we need to understand is what to do with a bully. Especially when we discover how close to home the bully might live. The link to the book is an affiliate link.
Listening to Myself
As I walked on the dirt road behind our house I chastised myself. “Why didn’t you start preparing for this presentation sooner? You can act so irresponsibly some times.”
The other part of me whined, “Because I’ve had a busy summer.”
“That’s no excuse! You present at that conference in TWO days! It seems like you do this every. Single. Time. You wait until the last minute to do everything. No wonder you feel stressed!”
I shook my head in defeat. My steps slowed with the weight of all I needed to accomplish in a few short hours. My inner voice had caught me again.
But then I stopped in my tracks.
I had planned on writing a back-to-school post about bullying. Maybe what I needed was a stiff talk to myself about facing down my biggest bully—ME.
I would NEVER use that tone of voice or those words with my students—whatever in the world made me think it was ok to use them on ME?
The Bully Inside Us
We all bully ourselves from time to time—it’s known as negative self-talk or rumination. When that voice in your head chastises you non-stop and you start to feel hopeless—you have a bully problem.
According to a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2014, one way to distance yourself from negative self-talk is to think of yourself in the third person.
Instead of saying, “I always mess up and procrastinate,” I should say “Anita always messes up and procrastinates.”
Just typing those two sentences helps me see the absurdity of the statement. In most situations I am on time. In fact, I have things completed before the due date, and I actually enjoy doing things ahead of time.
Boom! Bully silenced just like that.
I also realize that although I have left some things to the last minute, I have also constantly worked on the presentations in my head over the past four months. When doing other tasks, my mind has wandered to what I want to say, how I want to say it, and visuals of me standing in front of an audience delivering the words. In essence, I have drafted my two presentations and lead myself through visualization exercises. Just because I didn’t write those things down months ago does not mean that I haven’t been working on them.
Henry Ford said it best (ok, it’s credited to Henry Ford, but others have said essentially the same thing): Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right.
Cognitive Distortions and You
In his book Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, Dr. Burns outlines ten cognitive distortions (ten negative thought patterns) that people struggle with. I call them the ten bullies.
1. All-or-Nothing Thinking (you categorize yourself as either all good or all bad).
2. Overgeneralization (you conclude that if you act a certain way once, you are destined to act that way forever).
3. Mental Filter (you choose one negative aspect of yourself or an event and filter all information through this negative light).
4. Disqualifying the Positive (you turn positive things into negative things).
5. Jumping to Conclusions (you assign thoughts to other people that might not be true or you imagine that something bad WILL happen).
6. Magnification and Minimization (you either blow things out of proportion or ignore them).
7. Emotional Reasoning (you confuse your feelings about yourself with reality).
8. Should Statements (you create longs lists of things you should or ought to do and use them to pressure yourself into doing things—and you berate yourself when you fail).
9. Labeling and Mislabeling (this is an extreme, irrational form of overgeneralization).
10. Personalization (you take responsibility for negative events that you actually have no control over).
Hopefully, you don’t have to contend with all ten bullies at once!
Steps to Fight the Bullies
We ALL indulge in negative self-talk at times. Likewise, we all encourage ourselves with positive self-talk, too. Learning how to turn the negative into positive will help us feel less hopeless and discouraged.
Note: If you feel discouraged to the point of depression, make an appointment with a mental health professional as soon as possible. If you feel suicidal, seek medical attention immediately: Call 1-800-273-8255. There is NO SHAME in seeking help. A person experiencing a heart attack wouldn’t feel embarrassed for rushing to the hospital.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:39 to “love your neighbors as yourself.” Therefore, as Christians we have a mandate to learn how to love ourselves so that we can love others.
If you struggle with your inner bullies, I challenge you to grab a piece of paper the next time a bully pops up in your brain. Fold the paper in half, and on the left side, write down what the bully has to say.
Now, open the paper up and on the left side, rephrase each of those statements using the third person. Under the third-person restatement, use a different colored pen to write the truth.
When we bully ourselves, we usually do so out of anger. But we need to deal with our self-anger in the same way that we deal with anger at other people.
When we go through exercises that help us love ourselves, we, in essence, offer forgiveness and grace to ourselves. By doing this, we take Paul’s advice to not ‘give the devil a foothold’ in our lives (Ephesians 4:27).
Don't let the devil have a foothold in your life! Learn to silence your inner bully. #bully #backtoschool Click To TweetAbove all, remember that Jesus values you so much that he gave his life in exchange for yours. He wants you to live a free and abundant life—and that’s difficult to do when you’re hauling around a bagful of inner bullies.
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The grammar geek in me loves the idea of switching my self-accusations to third person. It does provide some distance and perspective. I can see that, and it also reminds me that I’m much tougher on myself than I would EVER dare to be with a friend or family member.
Great counsel, my friend!
Michele Morin recently posted…When Words Fail: Living and Lamenting through Dementia
I think we are the same: late, etc etc – love your perspective and you are so right!
Sue Donaldson recently posted…How to Mother Without Meddling
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I think I have used all those wrong kinds of thoughts at one time or another. Great idea to reframe them in the third person and then answer them.
Barbara Harper recently posted…Toward a Quiet Soul
Anita – Oh my goodness I didn’t even realize I am a BIG BULLY to myself. I love your idea to get a piece of paper out and write out the bully and the third person dialogue. Thank you for showing it.
I could relate so well to what you were saying about a presentation. My presentation is not until September, and I am already bullying me. Yet, I have started going over it in my head. I do have ideas.
Love this post sharing on Tailwind and with my mental health group right now so I can go back to it.
Maree Dee recently posted…Finding Hope in a Hopeless Situation – Grace & Truth Link-Up
Guilty as charged. I don’t often think about it, but I too can be a bully to myself. And that needs to stop. Love your suggestions here. (And I relate to your own #2…I’m getting fat…when actually I’m trying carefully to watch what I eat). The way we frame our words matters not only to others, but also to ourselves. Great post, Anita!
Lisa notes recently posted…5 Ways to Get Home in the Rain
Great post Anita! Good advice in getting professional help when needed as soon as possible.
Jennifer
Glad things went well for you yesterday in Chicago. You are a very smart, articulate spokesperson. And, I’m glad we are friends. xo
Dear Anita, you are such a positive and practical life coach! I’ve known about the power of self talk (positive and negative ) for a long time, but never couched the negative as a “bully”. That tweak makes all the difference! Thanks for the insight and journal strategy!
I know that bully. I wish I didn’t but I admit I have engaged in negative self-talk on a number of occasions. Your advice to switch to third person and then speak truth is advice I have heard in counseling. It does work. Great post today!
Mary Geisen recently posted…You Are the Message
Excellent, informative post. A better way of looking at things.
What an interesting–and true–perspective! The bully within tells ourselves what we would never think of telling others. Thanks also for the practical tip of writing down the lie & the truth.