Don’t Be Such a (Negative) Cliche
Don’t Be Such a (Negative) Cliché
Today I’m digging a little deeper here with my blog post, as promised a few weeks back. I thought about talking about myself or my family life, but baby steps seems to be the best route. So while brainstorming, I remembered a bone that I picked with myself a few weeks ago, and thought it might be a decent topic to chat about.
The scenario I’m talking about is when someone asked recently how married life is (I tied the knot in September). My response was to roll my eyes and say “It all goes downhill from here, right!” Um…that’s not really how I feel. I don’t have any complaints about marriage or my husband. I still get a thrill when I hear him introduce me as his wife. So why did I say that? A friend recently got engaged, and in the midst of congratulations, there were also some: “You still have time to run!” comments. We’re all happy for the newly engaged couple, so why are we still saying negative comments? Why is our first thought to put down marriages?
Let’s move on to weight – always a fun topic. When I was out for dinner recently with friends I ordered a salad instead of fries because I simply wanted a salad and I didn’t like the restaurant’s fries. But when asked about my choice, I said, “I need to watch what I’m eating. Ugh, I’m fat.” Er…I’m not fat. When I get stressed I tend to go under the normal BMI range. So why in the world am I calling myself that? Why am I just another girl complaining about her image and looks?
So many of us tend to fall into a cliché, whether it’s putting yourself down or simply exaggerating something that isn’t what you truly feel. I caught myself the other day about to put down marriage, and stopped myself just in time to say what I really felt about it – how happy I am to be married and how wonderful I think my husband is. Maybe we fall into the clichés because it seems accepted, almost normal. Or are we secretly fishing for compliments and/or sympathy?
I talked last week about starting The Cheeky Chicks with my girlfriend Holly, and our mission is to be inspiring and motivating – whether it has to do with fitness, friendship or life in general. As I search for upbeat sayings and try to create my own to share, I need to keep remembering to apply these to myself. I’m not saying I’m always positive and that I can’t complain now and again to my friends, but trying not to let myself fall into those negative clichés is a goal of mine. And think about it – when you put yourself down, the person you’re talking to often chimes in with what they think is wrong with their image/body/life, etc. So flip it. Talk about your positives and hopefully they will to, putting you both in a completely different mindset. I want to challenge myself (and you can take the challenge too!) to each day say something good about myself or my life when in conversation with someone. Hopefully that will shake me from becoming such a (negative) cliché!
