Hey, I’m Jasmine! Earlier this year, I started making my mental health a priority and decided to get a therapist because, I mean, even I deserve a shot at peace.
BuzzFeed / Via Jasmine Vaughn-Hall
And in hindsight, it’s the best thing I could have done.
After a few sessions of warming up to my therapist and letting her in, we came to one very big and slightly hard-to-stomach conclusion: I am verbally mean AF to myself.
Regina George ain’t got nothing on me apparently, and I was shocked that I was saying things to myself that I would probably fight someone else for saying. Twisted, right?
I was so used to this behavior over the years, that I didn’t even notice the damaging internal and external dialogue I effortlessly hosted.
Kudos to my therapist for making me say some of these things out loud and confronting my mean self.
Most of it was self-doubt and putting myself down, so my therapist suggested I try something specific. She told me to write out these statements outside of our sessions — and then put the statements away.
BuzzFeed / Via Jasmine Vaughn-Hall
Oh, and “put away” the mean statements is not to be confused with repressing them. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
So I decided to try it. Whenever I wrote a negative thought in my notebook or on a piece of paper, I folded it up, placed it in an old shoe box, and then physically put it away.
BuzzFeed / Via Jasmine Vaughn-Hall
(Yeah, that piece that basically looks like a paper plane was not one of my best days, but I got through it.)
After a week or so, I couldn’t even remember the negative thoughts I put into the box. It was almost like they were no longer living rent-free in my mind — and I didn’t care where they went.
BuzzFeed / Via Jasmine Vaughn-Hall
Writing down the thoughts and physically removing them from my sight proved to be a process that I positively adapted to. I realized these thoughts were holding me back and cornering my full potential. And no one puts my potential in a corner.
Now, I am not saying I don’t still get mean (at times), but seeing the very literal accumulation of paper in that box made me more mindful about “littering” on my mental health.
