Creating an Empowering Mindset: 7 Actionable Tips
Creating an Empowering Mindset
When life deals you a difficult blow or a major health crisis, how do you handle it and how do you build an empowering mindset? It’s easy to start asking, “Why me?” or blame those around you. Some of us may fall into depression or think about all the negatives when faced with chronic illnesses, such as autoimmune diseases, that can be painful, physically debilitating, or mentally overwhelming. Instead of accepting a “sitting duck” mindset, there are actionable ways to create an empowering mindset for yourself.
Dermatomyositis and My Mindset
Personally, I’ve had to deal with being able-bodied to becoming handicapped in a matter of several weeks, soon after my diagnosis. Life deteriorated week by week. I could no longer run without fearing that I would fall and hit my head on the sidewalk. No longer could I sit down and get out of a chair without assistance. No longer could I open a bottle of water by myself. Dermatomyositis had hit me very hard. I had severe fatigue and barely enough energy to last one day. Half of me was in disbelief and almost in denial that this could actually happen to me. Mentally, I was in survival mode, trying to process what was happening to me while making multiple health/medical decisions simultaneously. Despite all the struggles, I focused on moving forward regardless of how dire the conditions were.
7 Actionable Tips to Build an Empowering Mindset
- Set a vision: The first thing I did was I focused on “the light at the end of the tunnel”. I set a vision, which would be one of the destinations I wanted to reach during my journey towards optimal health. My vision was I would be a fully able-bodied individual who can be like the young professional I was before and take care of my own family. More specifically, this meant I would be able to do daily living activities, such as bathing, dressing, eating, walking, running, basic movements in a house, etc. Additionally, I loved dancing and I wanted to get back on the stage again. This “dream” almost felt impossible at the time and felt as if it was a million miles away. With an end result in mind, I was able to build a strategy with specific set of goals for paving my own path forward.
- “Control what I can control”: There are so many things I cannot control when I’m physically disabled and severely fatigued so I had to focus my limited, finite energy on what I can control. This may sound harsh, but everyone can feel sorry for you, even you. This is disempowering. Focus on what can be controlled by you. There’s plenty to do. I personally read many books on health, autoimmune disease related issues, life lessons, etc. For instance, I read “Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof That You Can Heal Yourself” by Lissa Rankin M.D. I read medical research to get a better understanding of dermatomyositis and learned about the root causes. Every week, I implemented new diet changes focused on being anti-inflammatory. I started to establish mental routines to avoid falling into a dark abyss and to stay on the path to face forward mentally.
- Stop detrimental thoughts: When a negative or self-blaming thought comes into your mind, immediately say, “stop!” and stop your thought process at that moment. This will help interrupt the negative thoughts flowing through your mind and help prevent hurting yourself emotionally and mentally. This is a suggestion from the book called, “The Secrets of the Bulletproof Spirit: How to Bounce Back from Life’s Hardest Hits” by Azim Khamisa and Jillian Quinn. Your mental thoughts can directly affect your physical health and you do not need to be your own energy. This tactic has helped me tremendously and is applicable for any person out there in the world facing life’s challenges.
- Positive incantations: To set your mindset, create positive affirmations that are like mantras to help you focus on moving forward. Tony Robbins calls these incantations, which are words of empowerment. You are using your voice and body to chant a mantra that enables you to change your mental state. This enables you to have a keen, sharp mental focus on the vision you have set for yourself. Also, I viewed my dermatomyositis as an opportunity, not a tragedy, to change my life for the better. I knew that in the toughest times of my life is the very moment I had an opportunity to learn, overcome, and grow. By growing, I knew I could find a way to contribute to something greater than myself, such as creating a blog to help others in similar situations as me. Some examples of affirmations and/or incantations I used were:
- No matter what… No matter what I will find a way…
- No matter what I will overcome
- Against all odds… I don’t care what the statistics show or do not show, I will find a way to beat the odds.
- Letting go: With finite energy and limited mobility, I had to pick and choose what to do during each day. I let go of things that are not going to matter while focusing on must do things. Instead of being a clean freak, I was ok with having the rooms clean enough for the short term. Instead of fussing over minor issues with people in my life, I focused on talking about what diet changes I needed to implement for my recovery.
- Faith: Have faith in your own body’s ability to heal itself. The basic assumption I had was Mother Nature did not build the human body to attack itself, the very definition of an autoimmune disease. The body is raising a red flag, similar to a red-alert alarm in a building, and I have to focus on the root causes to achieve optimal health. I recognized that hoping the doctor and/or the medications will “save” me is a “sitting duck” mindset. I kept faith that my actions, sooner or later, will eventually make a positive impact and help me regain my strength and energy. I knew I am here for a reason because I exist, here and now. My belief in “healing comes from within” and led me to keep undying faith and have unwavering determination to do anything and everything possible.
- Emotions create motion: Although I have heard of “motion creates emotion”, handicapped people have real challenges to move physically and create motion. Thus, I started every morning with one positive thought, usually thinking of one thing I appreciated in my life. Then I would have my smartphone close enough for me to grab and play an empowering song. Listening to profound or inspirational music invoked emotions within my heart, which motivated me to get up and execute my goals for the day. Using music, I could let “emotions create motion” and implement food, diet, and lifestyle changes each week.
Concluding Thoughts
By focusing on the milestones set ahead, I was able to stay focused on moving forward and eventually find an empowering mindset to push through despite how rough that road to the light at the end of the tunnel was. Even though my body was physically limited, my mind was more powerful than I could have ever imagined. Imagination was all I needed. Every person at one point of their lives will face adversity, seemingly insurmountable, and an empowering mindset is what will enable him or her to overcome and move forward. Taking steps to create an empowering mindset allows the person to create an unwavering spirit that is like an undeterred warrior willing to continuously fight.
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