The breakup had been brutal. Everyone had sided with Ryan and believed his side of events.
Liza understood why. After all, everyone knew the funny, life-of-the-party Ryan. They all had experienced his generous, fun-loving nature, and now she was the “bad guy” once the relationship fell apart.
Liza lay awake in bed feeling alone and depressed. She had tossed and turned last night with virtually no sleep. She had tried to ring her girlfriend but the call had gone straight to voicemail. She had text another friend, but no reply.
Tired and irritable, Liza made her way to work and tried to keep herself busy. She felt alone and wanted to talk to someone, so she texted her sister and waited to hear back.
As the morning slowly rolled into the afternoon, there were no calls or texts. Liza began to feel more and more alone.
She decided to get out of the office and take a walk. Walking past a nearby café, she saw some of her co-workers having lunch, talking and enjoying themselves. Liza felt left out and dejected. As the tears rolled down her cheeks, Liza couldn’t help thinking to herself, “Nobody likes me”.
Many of have experienced these thoughts when we have felt alone, vulnerable, and unsure of what the future holds. We want to know that our friends and family are there to protect and support us, and a silent phone can easily be misinterpreted that we are not worthy or liked by others.
Feeling like “nobody likes you” is a soul-crushing experience. It is easy to attack ourselves in moments when we feel low.
However, the danger in doing this is that we lose confidence in our potential and give up on being who we truly are. Our inner critic takes over, reminding us that we are not good enough and that nobody likes us—and these thoughts begin to hold us back.
This week’s challenge is to monitor your inner voice. Start listening as if you were observing yourself from the outside. Take notes to keep track of what you say to yourself, especially when your emotions and feelings change throughout the day.
Your inner voice is the conversation you are having with yourself, and for most of us, that conversation turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
This is why it is so important to become aware of your conversations and start to evaluate your thoughts. Begin by questioning thoughts that are unproductive, negative, and harsh—you can do this by looking for evidence to challenge them.
Remember, just because you think a thought is true doesn’t make it so. What you will find is that most thoughts are just opinions, and these opinions can be transformed.
Start your transformation right now by asking yourself, “Is it true that in a world of billions of people not one single person likes me?”
Forever creating
Deborah Ruth
