We become the stories we most often tell ourselves

Good morning gorgeous. It's been a blizzardy week here in Toronto, so today let's curl up with a warm blanket and a hot coffee for our weekly chat.

This time of year can be hard. We're leaking all of the vitamin D we had leftover from the summer, and reserves are low. When we’re cooped up, we’re more likely to listen to our fear. The really bad ideas go like this: I’m not good enough. I'm not smart enough. Something bad is going to happen.

The scariest bit about this is that we become the stories we most often tell ourselves.

If you tell yourself you’re not good enough, you’ll look for evidence everywhere to affirm that (bad) idea. Confirmation bias kicks in, and we only see the things that confirm our beliefs about ourselves and our lives.

You get to choose what colors to paint your life with, and if you’re only working with shades of grey, everything is going to look like darkness.

Listen to your fear but don't buy in. Treat your anxiety like a high school gossip, call her Ashlee. She's overdramatic and untrustworthy— but once in a while has something useful to say. We need to find the nuggets of truth she knows, and let the rest go. Ask:

What is Ashlee trying to tell me?
Is there a useful message here?
Do I need to take action? If so, do what you need to do.
No?
Then tell her to stfu, you have a beautiful life to build and you need to use all the colors of the damn wind.