Self-Sabotage

A former student posted this on Facebook.  It made me laugh, and I shared it with everyone on Facebook, so I thought I'd share it here as well.

Yes, life IS short.  But it is ALSO terrifying and confusing!  Have you ever come close to a goal only to feel a sense of dread? When you're so close...so close to having whatever you've dreamed of...and you hit a wall?  Not literally, of course, but metaphorically.  Maybe you've wanted that dream job.  Now it looks like you might actually get it, and suddenly you're filled with dread and self-doubt.  Maybe it's a great relationship--you've finally met someone with whom you have so much in common, someone who makes you laugh, someone with whom you have a real connection--that someone you were beginning to believe didn't exist.  And what do you do?  Do you embrace the new relationship?  Or do you push him/her away?  Maybe you're dieting...and within five pounds of your goal weight when you self-sabotage and start eating everything in sight.

Fear pushes us in strange directions.  When I was teaching seniors, I saw them self-sabotage time and time again.  They were close to graduation when they would suddenly stop doing what they were supposed to do in order to complete graduation requirements.  It was more than "senioritis"...it was fear.  Fear of the next step, of college or the work force.  Fear of the end of childhood and the beginning of adulthood.  When I used to diet, I would lose weight, get uncomfortable with male attention and eat to put the "safety weight" back on.  I self-sabotaged all the time. 

Why do we self-sabotage?  I think that in part it's habit.  We are so used to NOT having what we want that we don't know what to do with it when we finally get it.  But I think that a larger part of it is that we don't believe we DESERVE the goal.  It's as if we unconsciously think, I don't deserve that dream job.  I don't deserve this wonderful woman (or man).  I don't deserve to be thin and happy.

But you DO deserve it.  I once read that for every negative thing we hear or think, we have to hear or think TWELVE positive things to wipe out the effect of the negative.  TWELVE!  Imagine how many negative things you said or thought today...and start turning them around by replacing them with positive affirmations.  You deserve to be happy.  Please believe that in your heart.
 

Today is my interview.  1pm EDT.  Stop wherever you are and ask for intervention on my behalf.  Please...I need to teach--it's who I am!!  Have a thankful, thought-filled, POSITIVE Thursday!!