Your mindset is crucial for personal growth and self-acceptance, especially if yours tends to be a negative one. If you’re stuck in a fixed negative state of mind, it can be difficult to recognise when you would benefit from switching up your mindset, even when the signs are staring you in the face.
Do you feel like that could be the case for you? Here are 7 signs that it’s time to change your mindset.
YOU ONLY SEE NEGATIVE THINGS
Do you tend to put a strong focus on what’s wrong in your life and rarely (or never!) acknowledge the good parts? This is a major sign that you’ll benefit from changing your mindset to a more positive one that will help you to build better mental strength.
As you probably know from personal experience, negative thinking paves the way for stress, anxiety and other mental health problems. It also lowers your expectations if you’re constantly expecting the worst case scenario to occur.
YOU PUT YOURSELF AFTER EVERYONE ELSE
How are you doing when it comes to self-care and taking care of your own needs? If you still feel that it’s selfish to focus on yourself rather than other people, this is another sign that it’s time to alter your mindset and make yourself more of a priority.
Putting yourself first sometimes important for your own health and wellbeing, especially when it comes to things like sleep and healthy eating. Self-care also triggers a relaxation response, which can help to stop the stress response affecting your health. These days, we know that chronic stress and the inflammation it can trigger is a big factor in a lot of health issues. Self-care can therefore be a lot more crucial than you might think and changing your mindset to reflect this can be one of the best things you can do for your health.
YOU BLAME YOURSELF FOR EVERYTHING
When things don’t go to plan, do you usually put the blame solely on yourself and refuse to recognise that other factors may be involved too? Excessive self-blame is linked to mental health problems, including depression. It’s also something that holds you back from being able to learn and grow from mistakes and experiences.
Instead of blaming yourself, try recognizing that it’s time to shift your mindset towards self-acceptance and self-forgiveness instead. We all make mistakes and having a mindset that accepts this and looks for ways to use them in a positive way, creates a foundation for growth.
YOU WORRY (ALL THE TIME)
Everyone worries now and again but if your worries are consuming you, you’ll definitely benefit from a mindset change.
A negative and anxious mindset can be very exhausting and it’s also very unproductive. A lot of the time, you’re worrying about things that will never happen or that you can’t change so it’s literally wasted energy. Finding ways to stop worrying about things you have no control over is super important for a more positive mindset. And for the things you might be able to change? Focus on what you could do to make that happen.
YOUR EXPECTATIONS STRESS YOU OUT
If you’re expecting things to happen without the right mindset, it’s usually going to end in frustration and disappointment. This is particularly true when it comes to happiness. We often expect happiness to just happen to us, usually in line with material things or other people. Expectations about who you should be and what other people expect from you can also stressful.
Shifting your mindset to recognise that your expectations start with you can be a game changer as it helps you to feel that you have control over them. Experts have suggested that lowering your expectations can be a secret weapon in the road to happiness.
YOUR ROUTINES HAVE CHANGED
Have you noticed a shift in your sleep, appetite and mood lately? If this isn’t for the better, it’s another sign that your mindset could use a more positive stance.
A negative mindset can have an effect on your health so it’s probably no great surprise to know that negative changes in your routines can come about as a result of your mindset, especially if you don’t have a positive one. Negative thought patterns can affect your sleep patterns and mood, and can also lead to emotional eating.
YOU FEEL YOUR PRIORITIES/VALUES DON’T MATCH YOUR LIFE
Have a think about your biggest priorities in life. Maybe these focus on your health, happiness or family, for example. Now have a think about whether your life is really helping you to work towards your priorities. Were you surprised to see that your priorities and values don’t fit too well with how you’re living your life? It’s another sign that you’re in the right position to change your mindset and bring your life in line with your values.
It seems like a simple thing to ask – change your mindset! If it were that easy we’d all be doing it!
Your thoughts create your feelings. Your feelings create your actions. Your actions create your reality. Your reactions to that reality, affect the quality of your relationships with yourself AND others. Underpinning all of this are your beliefs – about yourself and the world. Once we change those beliefs and reframe the experiences that created them, everything that follows (thoughts, feelings, actions) changes too.
I can help you do this. Give me a shout if you want to find out more.
