Let’s examine that simple statement…
I think I first heard of this saying in a teacher’s classroom. I remember thinking this is such a simple statement which makes it great for kids. When I started to think about it more I knew that it reached beyond kids and was completely appropriate for adults too. Life has a way of making us feel defeated and as if things can never change. We find ourselves facing hardship after hardship and when those hardships yield heavy losses we can find ourselves feelings defeated. This can lead to thoughts like things have always been this way and I can never overcome this.
As a quick way of countering this I love doing an activity with my clients based on the coloring sheet above. This activity allows them to explore some of the hard things they have overcome in their life.
Here’s how the activity goes. They flip the coloring sheet over and start listing a bunch of the hard things they can remember overcoming in life from the least to the greatest. Everything from passing a test in school they knew they would fail, actually finishing school when they thought they couldn’t, landing a job they thought you never could, or conquering potty training with a child they thought was determined to remain in diapers for life. After they’ve made their list, they then flip the sheet over and color the picture. Lastly, I ask them to hang it up somewhere they can see it often to remind them of all of the amazing hard things they have overcome in life.
Here’s how the activity goes. They flip the coloring sheet over and start listing a bunch of the hard things they can remember overcoming in life from the least to the greatest. Everything from passing a test in school they knew they would fail, actually finishing school when they thought they couldn’t, landing a job they thought you never could, or conquering potty training with a child they thought was determined to remain in diapers for life. After they’ve made their list, they then flip the sheet over and color the picture. Lastly, I ask them to hang it up somewhere they can see it often to remind them of all of the amazing hard things they have overcome in life.
This helps them to:
Build your confidence
Reminds them of tools they can use to overcome current hard situations
Boosts their mood as they remember how amazing they are
I believe this can help you as well so I challenge you to try it out! Download the sheet below (tip: print it out in portrait not landscape):
