Coping Skills to Help Form a Positive Self-View

June 1 is National Say Something Nice Day. The goal of this day is to fight against bullying and promote common courtesy among people in this world. A good place to start is within. It’s possible to be your own bully. It’s possible to have negative thoughts about yourself. If you think negatively about yourself, it becomes easier to think negatively about the people around you. Combat this negative self-image with our two strategies below.

Coping Skills: Self-Talk
Self-talk is a coping skill that allows you to listen to your inner voice. This inner voice can be positive or negative. It’s important to maintain a positive inner voice. Below are steps to help understand and steer your self-talk into a positive direction.

1. Listen to your inner voice.
“You are a nice person.”
“You’re not a very nice person.”

2. Is your inner voice helping you?
“I feel good about being nice.”
“Not being nice makes me sad.”

3. How can you change your inner voice to make you feel better?
“I can do one nice thing for someone every day.”
“I do nice things for people; therefore, I must be a nice person.”

Download a printable version of this poster here.

Motivation Through Affirmation
Affirmations are a type of emotional support. They are things you say to yourself for motivation or encouragement. An affirmation is an effective coping skill when faced with an emotional problem. Here are 7 of the top affirmations many people use:

“I am enough.”
“I believe in myself.”
“I love who I am.”
“I am in charge of my own happiness.”
“My life is filled with goodness.”
“My difficulties are opportunities.”
“I am perfect just the way I am.”

You can say these statements to yourself every morning when you wake up. You can have them written on a mirror you look at every day. You can set a reminder on your phone to give you one of these statements periodically throughout the day. You can take a moment during a stressful time to meditate over these words.

Continue this activity by creating your own customized affirmations by following the steps laid out in this worksheet download.