Does the little voice in your head tell you:
“You’ll never succeed. You’re worthless. Your life is a mess. You can’t get yourself together. You’re a failure. You can’t do anything right. You’ll never do anything great or meaningful.
I can still remember how I felt a few years ago when I was told how my personality got on a certain individual’s nerves. Let’s just say I didn’t feel all warm and fuzzy inside. On the contrary, that statement really hurt me.
Fish living in a goldfish bowl are not living their best life. Because most fish bowls lack a filtration system to keep their environment clean and free of toxins, very few goldfish survive for more than a few weeks. A bowl simply can’t provide a suitable living environment for any fish to live a healthy and long life. Likewise, an unfiltered or poorly filtered mind does not lead to living life more abundantly. When our thoughts go unchecked and unfiltered, we develop toxic mindsets that cause us to lead unhealthy, unproductive, and unhappy lives. But a new way of thinking will always precede a new way of living.
I’d like to tell you a story. This story is about a little girl who had a big dream of becoming a writer. She wanted her words to inspire, encourage and give hope to the heart of every reader who came across her written words. But there was this one BIG problem, the gremlin. You see the gremlin was the loud, mean, nasty and demeaning voice she always heard inside of her head. It would always say things to her such as:
Have you ever wondered why we (especially women) are so apologetic? Were we born this way or were we socialized this way? Maybe it’s not either/or but both/and. Do you feel like you always need to apologize for who you are or the decisions you make?
All of us have (or will) will experience seasons in life when we feel tired and broken down from the storms and trials of just living. But the key is making the decision to persevere and rise up. For some storms and struggles in life, we may find ourselves weak and unable to rise up. There are some things we simply can’t handle on our own. And it’s in those moments and situations of weakness when we are to call upon God to step in.