Saying This Affirmation Every Day For One Week Actually Improved My Life

“I want you to write down five affirmations a day this week and every week from now on.”

Eight months ago, my therapist tried to kill me with this challenge. 

I was recovering from an eating disorder, self-harm, an abusive relationship, and SAD. The last thing I wanted to do was sit down every morning and write love letters to myself. 

But my therapist leaned back in his chair, smirked, and told me I had to. And so I did. This morning, I just finished writing my 1,295th affirmation.

Affirmations are now an essential part of my morning routine. I don’t care if I get up at 4am or 1pm, I will do them.

Affirmations: What They Are And How They Work

Words have power. I think this was and is the most important lesson of my childhood. As a child, any time I said something negative about myself, my mom would employ her superhero hearing and sweep into my room screaming “I renounce that in Jesus’ name,” then ask me (force me) to say positive things to counteract the negative claim I had just made. 

I was never allowed to call myself fat, a failure, dumb, or anything that my mother believed would do lasting damage to me. 

My mother knew the power words had and often told me the story of a teacher who talked to rice. Modeled after Masaru Emoto’s experiment with water, a local elementary school teacher put rice in two jars in her classroom. She told her class to tell all the mean things they could think of (while remaining appropriate) to one jar of rice while affirming and building up the other jar. 

The results still astound me. The jar that was bullied grew mold and diseases, while the one that was affirmed stayed pristine and white. I still can’t help but wonder how much more negative talk hurts people who understand the words being spoken over them than the rice.

When you say an affirmation repeatedly, your brain begins to take on those traits. If you were to say, “I am capable of everything I need to do today,” you wouldn’t automatically become capable, but your brain would go into work mode. Affirmations prime your brain to take on whatever you have just claimed about yourself. Healthline says that repeating affirmations or mantras allows you to create a mental image of yourself doing that thing and your brain is reacting to that by putting itself in the situation.

Anything you say or think about yourself is an affirmation. To affirm means to state something as a fact. Affirmations aren’t always positive, which is why they can be dangerous. There is scientific evidence that speaking something over yourself (or writing it down) will reframe the way your brain works and sees you. So if you’re constantly claiming defeat, then you’re affirming yourself, just not in the way that you want. Words have so much power, so make sure you’re saying the right ones. 

This Week’s Special Affirmation

After about 38 weeks of daily affirmations, I’m no stranger to them. They’re mostly different every morning, but they remain under my therapist’s rules: Something truthful, achievable, and not about my physical appearance. 

When I’m overwhelmed, my partner gets down on my level and makes me tell him that, “I’m a bad bitch”. Is that weird? Maybe. But does it give me the fire to conquer whatever I need? Hell yeah, because I’m a bad bitch. 

But this week I branched out and added a sixth affirmation to my morning routine: “I don’t chase, I attract. What’s meant for me will simply find me,” and the results were pretty amazing.

I loved doing the affirmation challenge this week because it was something that I was very familiar with, but it still gave me a heightened sense of the results. Because I’ve done affirmations for so long, it’s normal for me to write my five sentences at the beginning of the day and then forget about them by noon. I tried not to do that this week. 

One thing that always helps me remember my affirmations is writing them on my hand and around my house. I always have little notes going everywhere, so I wrote my affirmation at the bottom of my to-do list, so I would see it after every task. 

Basic Steps For Making Your Affirmations “Work”:

Write Your Affirmations Down

One thing that always helps me remember my affirmations is writing them on my hand and around my house. I always have little notes going everywhere, so I wrote my affirmation at the bottom of my to-do list, so I would see it after every task. 

Say Your Affirmations Out Loud

Psychology Today suggests speaking the affirmation out loud for five minutes in the morning, afternoon, and evening. I’m sure my mother would like this one because it’s claiming something positive about yourself. I started to repeat the affirmation when I woke up, when I got stressed, and every time I thought about this article.

Look Into a Mirror

One thing the article mentions is to say your affirmations when you’re looking in a mirror. This method is called mirroring and many people think it’s the most powerful method to use for affirmations. I don’t always do my affirmations in the mirror, but I understand why it works. Affirmations are about reframing the way you see and talk to yourself. Claiming these words while looking in a mirror helps to further your view of yourself.

What I Noticed

I watch roughly 50 TikToks a day. Is that unhealthy? We’re still trying to figure it out. Nonetheless, “I don’t chase, I attract. What is meant for me will simply find me” has been used all over the app. The mantra has gotten people job interviews, job offers, reunions with their exes (that’s a no from me), marriage proposals (that’s a hell yes), and so much more. I have experienced a lot of success this week, but I’m not sure if I can fully credit that to my affirmation. I am of the mind that I have to work if I want my affirmations to, so I do work hard and I hope for the best. That being said, I haven’t chased, I have attracted things, and what is meant for me has found its way to me. 

In the end, I don’t care if my affirmations are magic bullets that will put me on the map. I care that eight months ago, I could not imagine saying one affirmation a day because I didn’t value myself and now I can’t imagine going one day without saying five. I care that my self-esteem and self-love have drastically improved since I started these affirmations and I hope that they don’t stop growing. I care that I don’t speak negatively about myself anymore and I only claim good for myself.

Have you tried affirmations? Which one is your favorite? Comment below!

For More Articles About Affirmations, Read These:

These 15 Self Love Affirmations Will Remind You To Care For Yourself

Iffirmations Are The New Affirmations, And Here’s Why They Work Better