Lord, beer me strength.

Something I've heard people do is telling yourself a story that changes your emotions about the thing. Almost like faking it until you make it but then you actually really start to believe and feel the thing you are saying.

This is true for depression and depressive spirals, but also for pro athletes who go on to break more and more world records.

Something similar or related, is the Pygmalion effect, which is a psychological phenomenon in which high expectations lead to improved performance in a given area and low expectations lead to worse performance.

This phenomenon was named after the Greek myth of Pygmalion, the sculptor who fell so much in love with the perfectly beautiful statue he created that the statue came to life. The idea of envisioning and expecting improvement in areas like exercise and fitness for me, so much that it becomes my reality is something that doesn't cost me anything to try.

So if I have high expectations for myself, it might lead to improved performance. This feels vulnerable and scary to have high hopes for myself and to fail or be let down. 

This combined with saying the words,  "This is an opportunity!"out loud when faced with a fear moment, might actually change my emotions toward it in the long run.

I can't grow or work on something without the moment that causes the discomfort, like working on cleaning for example. I can't grow or work on cleaning without the mess to clean, which is ever present.

I know people who started saying out loud, "I love cleaning! I love working out" until they really did start to enjoy it.

What a crazy thought! 

So, I want to try talk to myself (like a crazy person) and see if I can change my emotions about things I don't like. Let's call it a little healthy self denial until it becomes real.