The Things We Tell Ourselves
If perception is indeed reality, then what we tell ourselves is the story of our lives.
We have more power over our lives than we give ourselves credit for. The inner dialogue can be a powerful tool — we’re constantly narrating our story, and that story shapes how we see the world.
I had a terrible morning today. It was supposed to be great! But instead, it sucked.
I’d planned to spend the morning in town with my Sweetheart doing a few things, errands, groceries, you know. To me, time spent in such a manner almost constitutes as a date! I even slept in — which means laying there awake for an extra hour or so, just holding her.
But then when the 7am alarm trumpeted, I was surprised when she said, “I’ve got to get up.”
“What? Why?” I asked…
Then she hit me with the news that derailed my happy train, “I’ve got to go to work this morning honey. You heard me on the phone last night.”
Wow. 😒 Maybe I did? Maybe I didn’t want to? Idk but I guess I did because I do remember — only, it didn’t register.
Well let me tell ya — it’s taken me 7 hours to shake off the funk. I started telling myself how unlucky, how unhappy I was when she popped my bubble, and I’ve paid for it all morning. I dove head first into the deep end…
I immediately assumed that Bink wasn’t coming anymore, so I guess I won’t get to see him today. Nope — wrong. Not only did he come, but it was just me and him for half an hour or so. Except, I didn’t get to enjoy it at first — because I was sure that Wifey wouldn’t be home in time for me to make it to work. So now I don’t get lunch, and I’m taking a one year old to work with me. Oh, and his mama still hasn’t brought his shoes back over here. And I haven’t mopped lately so I guess I’ll have to hold him the whole time — like that’d be bad… WTF MJ?
Needless to say, she did make it in plenty of time — I made and ate lunch. And fortunately, Bink made me forget all those troubles after just a few minutes. You wanna know how to be more present? Watch a one year old, they’ll show you the way.
Okay so back to my crappy morning in town — totally and completely alone. You’d think that I’d never done anything for myself before, by the way I was acting. And y’all, I like spending time with Self, we usually get along great. But I hated the fact that I had to go to this place for this thing, then another for that — yes I could just go to Walmart, but that would be even worse. Somehow every time I leave that store my faith in humanity is lowered another notch.
When I’m in the grocery store, I feel as though I’ve been tasked with the impossible. Those aren’t the right potatoes, and all the pork chops are too thin(the list calls for 4 thick cut chops). Even the fact that almost everything in the store was on sale was a problem, because how am I supposed to know what to buy? And I’m absolutely sure that if we’re ever able to get back here in together, all these fabulous deals will be gone. Tariffs will have quadrupled everything for sure.
Then I stopped by three gas stations before I actually got any gas on the way home, we won’t even get into that fiasco. Just know — I could’ve gotten it cheaper.
Y’all I brought every bit of that shit on, my own self. And damnit, I knew I was doing it. I was like a hog in slop, bring on the misery — yummy, I love it!
I wanted to feel bad — I freaking chose it.
The things we tell ourselves matter. We are the narrator of our own story, and we can make it a comedy or a tragedy by what we say to ourselves in each moment.
I’m so glad that my horrible mindset only lasted a few hours, I could have easily rode right along on the thought train for days or weeks — a lifetime even, if I let it. (Notice the change to present tense there, as this is an ongoing battle. I speak more on that in Alternate POV)
Gratitude is the way 🙏 imagine how much better my morning would have been if when my Sweetheart said that she had to work, I’d have said, “That’s great baby! Although I was really looking forward to hanging with you, I know that you’ve had a hard time managing work and family lately. So I’ll be happy to take care of the things that need doing in town this morning. What time will you be back? You want me to pick us up something for lunch?”
Well I can tell you from experience that my morning would have gone infinitely better. As a matter of fact, I’m quite confident that none of those negative things would have even happened.
How can I be so certain? It’s because this is normally my mindset. And like I said in Lucky or Blessed, “I’ve been told that I live a charmed life.”
Lucky, blessed — whether I am, or whether I ain’t. All that really matters is what I tell myself. Call it Manifestation or Synchronicity — call it a charmed life. It doesn’t matter what you call it — just that you pay attention to what you’re calling it.
Just recognizing that you have a say in what it is, is a foot in the door. Then and only then can you begin to decide whether your story will be a tragedy or a comedy. That’s when you start to choose your response instead of being swept away on the thought train.
Consciousness is a beautiful, and yet terrifying stallion — one can either let it run unbridled, or they take the horse by the reins.
We pickup the reins by paying attention to the things that we tell ourselves — this is paramount to the ability to write one’s own story. When you look, you don’t either see the glass half full or half empty — you choose your reality by what you tell yourself you see. The things we tell ourselves become our law, and every aspect of life is weighed against said law.
So write the book of law in your own favor — after all, you’re the one holding the pen✨
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it and clicking that ❤ button, and I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Oh and if you’re an email reader, just hit reply—I want to hear from you too! Do you treat yourself as a friend or foe?
Here are the three posts I mentioned above. As I’ve said many times before — I revisit my writing often, and this essay was heavily influenced by these. So if you haven’t read them yet, I recommend them as companions to this piece. Enjoy!




The glass is half full, MJ!
Thanks for this!
:)
I so saw myself in this. Had a little chuckle. Thanks. It confirms that gratitude and right attitude saves the day.