Being a college student can be mentally draining. Balancing schoolwork, extracurricular activities, a social life, and personal time, it can feel like we are being pulled in 20 different directions at once. Wanting our grades to thrive and our resumes to stand out also piles onto our never-ending stress. Not to mention trying to establish names for ourselves as ambitious women who deserve an equal playing field to our male counterparts. Anxiety can build and lead to us feeling overwhelmed or as if we don’t belong. This is where positive affirmations come into play and help reinforce self-worth.
The Importance of Positive Affirmations
According to Mind Connection, positive affirmations can remind us of beliefs and values that are important to us, meaning that affirmations can remind us of how smart, kind, driven, and talented we are. This can lead to an increase in confidence and self-image, self-compassion, emotional well-being, making it more likely to achieve our goals. Our confidence increases from the reinforcement of self-assuring statements by helping our brains accept them as facts. Finding love and kindness from within and relying less on others to fill our own voids will improve our emotional well-being. Finally, achieving success becomes easier with positive affirmations since our confidence drives us to work harder and set more ambitious goals.
How to Set Positive Affirmations
Positive affirmations are most effective when they are tailored to our needs; for example, if we are feeling insecure in our academic abilities, a positive affirmation would be one along the lines of “I am smart and can achieve good grades.” Once we find the affirmation(s) that best match our insecurities, it is time to recite them. It is best to say/write them as often as possible. A good schedule to stick to is saying/writing them down in the morning, midday, and at night and whenever we feel we need some extra reassurance. When we recite them, it’s important to say them aloud or write them down three to five times. Adding mindful meditation to our positive affirmations routines and having loved ones recite our affirmations to us can help solidify them in our subconscious. It’s also important to be consistent and patient with our affirmations. Results don’t come overnight! With positive affirmations as a “tool” in our “toolbox”, we will find ourselves to be more empowered and ready to take on any challenge that comes our way.
