Every night, before my daughter goes to bed, we have a ritual.
After we finish reading books, I tell her to repeat after me:
I am powerful. She repeats.
I am brave. She repeats.
I am beautiful. She repeats.
I am strong. She repeats.
I am brilliant. She repeats.
And so on.
Like clockwork, every night, the same affirmations. The same words pouring into her little mind, shaping the way she sees herself. Because if there’s one thing I want to make sure she knows, it’s that she is capable, worthy, and enough—exactly as she is.
But this morning, something happened that completely melted my heart.
She was sitting in my room as I got ready for the day, and out of nowhere, she started reciting:
“I am powerful. I am brave. I am smart. I am cool. I am kind.”
No prompting. No repeat-after-me. Just her, saying the words on her own.
And in that moment, I realized—it’s sinking in.
She’s not just saying the words because I tell her to. She’s believing them.
The Lesson in This
Words are powerful. The way we talk to ourselves matters. And as much as I started this routine for her, I think it’s been helping me, too.
Because let’s be real—how often do we, as adults, tell ourselves those things? How often do we look in the mirror and say, I am strong. I am brave. I am enough.?
Most of the time, we do the opposite. We tear ourselves down. We let doubt creep in. We replay our mistakes instead of our strengths.
But watching her say those words with conviction, watching her own them, made me realize—I need to do the same.
If I can teach her to speak kindly to herself, I can teach me, too.
So, here’s to affirmations. Here’s to raising strong, confident, kind little humans. Here’s to unlearning the negative self-talk we’ve carried for far too long and replacing it with something better.
Because words matter. And the way we speak to ourselves? That matters most of all.
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