Anna Geary is no stranger to opening up with her fans and followers on Instagram about various topics from the use of filters online to fears of judgement. Now, she’s discussing the importance of self-talk, or speaking nicely to yourself.
Sharing a video of herself on Instagram, Anna wrote common excuses that many of us use daily, including, “I’m too busy. I feel stuck in a rut. I don’t feel valued. I can’t switch off. I can’t do it.”
In the video, Anna then replaced these with: “I will prioritise what’s important to me. I can try new things. I must value myself first. I’m entitled to time off. I can ask for help.”
Captioning the clip, the RTÉ star explained how important self-talk is when facing challenging situations such as this.
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She continued, starting with the lyrics from Michael Jackson’s ‘Man In The Mirror, “‘Gonna make a change, for once in my life’
“Sometimes we tell ourselves stories that aren’t fact & sometimes we listen to others telling us things they make us believe we aren’t good enough, or worthy enough of rest/ love/ success etc. We need to change the narrative.
“Next time you find yourself saying something negative to yourself, ask yourself one question? ‘IS THAT A FACT?’
“Because often our thoughts are not based on fact! They are based on our previous experiences or embedded beliefs.
“Our self-talk is key. Become aware of the language you are using when speaking to yourself. What are the things YOU need to stop (or start) telling yourself?
“When it comes to my career (and in sport too), I have to keep telling myself, I CAN & I WILL!
“Even when I make a mistake or have a setback. Especially when the imposter syndrome hits! I CAN always still ‘try’ or ‘start’ or ‘learn’ or ‘improve’!
“The great thing about self-talk is that once you become aware of it you can control it! And once you control it, you can change it!!
“If we tell ourselves something enough, often we may start to believe it’s true, whether it’s positive or negative, accurate or false, so tune into the language – I CAN instead of I can’t!”