Your mind is engaging in a never ending battle between positivity and negativity.
As a teenager I can remember my 11th grade teacher saying to me, “Scott, you need to get out of your head, what the hell is going on in there anyway, son?” My response was as followed, “Nothing, sir, I guess I was just overthinking again.”
Overthinking again, hmmm that seems to be a phrase that has come out of my mouth many a time since the days of elementary school. What really is going on inside my head anyway? It always seems so crowded up there, there never seems to be any vacancy for positivity, yet negative and self-punishing thoughts can stay free of charge for as long as they like.I’m pretty sure they even get free room service too, complete with root-beer floats and 32-ounce steaks.
Well, damn! Now that’s the life, occupying someone’s mind free of charge with no timetable to leave, and free room service! Sing me up to be a negative thought… where do I send my resume to?
It’s no wonder I often feel my mind is going to implode from the inside out because there are too many lazy negative thoughts in there taking up all the room. The real question is, as the manager of the hotel, why do I continue to let these thoughts occupy my mind? Why can’t I simply say, “Sorry, no vacancy.” Why can’t I do that?
On occasion, I am able to keep these thoughts at bay, allowing positivity and hope into the hotel free of charge. Yet, they only seem to stay for a night or two before hastily leaving, often times being chased out by the hooligan’s, the dynamic duo of negativity and self-doubt. Those two seem to be the longest tenured thoughts occupying my mind’s hotel, and even when I think I have them kicked out, they sneak back in and trash the place, leaving me to pick up the pieces again.
This daily battle of positivity vs. negativity is one that never stops. Even when I believe positivity has taken over, the battle always continues. Much like the immune system is constantly trying to fend off germs, the mind is constantly trying to fend off negativity, and its up to us to help aid in the battle.
It’s imperative to keep fighting the good fight instead of surrendering to the thoughts that strangle the mind with self-doubt, negativity and their hooligan friends who are constantly knocking on the door, waiting for an opportunity to sneak back in.
So, if I could acquire a time machine and go back to when my 11th grade teacher asked me what’s going on in my head, I would tell him, “Mr. G, let me take you on a trip inside my head and I’ll show you.”
Every single day I wake up with two voices in my head, and no, I’m not crazy. I’m talking about my positive voice and my negative voice. They start bickering with each other the second I wake up in the morning.
“Hey, Scott, today is the day you are finally going to go up to that girl you like and ask her how her weekend was.” A smile breaks across my face as I start to envision such joyous thoughts, yet it is short lived, and immediately followed by, “Hey, Scott, your face looks like someone took a red dry erase marker and had thirty seconds to connect the dots while blindfolded.” Well, there goes any hope of talking to that girl after my negative voice gave me that nice uplifting comment.
Throughout the day I struggle to keep these two voices from tearing me apart, I can’t even eat lunch without them jostling for full control over my train of thought. Yet, as exhausting as it is to try and keep the negativity at bay and focus on positives, I find the strength to continue because of one simple word: hope.
Hope keeps me alive, knowing that my life will not always be this way, knowing that good things are in store for me. The more I focus on hope, the more I start to notice those hooligans, self-doubt, negativity, and self-hatred, check out of the hotel in my mind. Slowly but surely rooms become available, allowing self-security, happiness, confidence, and positivity to check in and stay for an extended time.
So, as manager of your own mind, its up to you to kick the hooligans out. No one else can do it for you, the only way you will take back control of your mind is by allowing positivity to stay for more than one night.
Make it comfortable for those thoughts to stay in your head, offer them free room service, and even provide them with extra perks if they rough up the negative thoughts a little bit. Although the battle will never fully cease, you can make sure its one sided in favor of positivity by ignoring the negative thoughts, and by acting on the ideas placed in your mind by positive thoughts.