It can be so easy to stay stuck in a pessimistic cycle of thinking.

When you form habits that aren’t good for your mental health, it is tricky to pull yourself out of it. Trust me, I know from experience.

When I was at my lowest, I was not eating right, drinking excessively, and not prioritizing my mental or physical well being.

But the most beautiful part of this life is that at ANY given moment, you can decide to make a change.

You can decide that who you are currently is not who you want to be. You can make a shift and change the course of your whole life if you choose to.

That’s what I did.

I understood that where I was in my life was not where I wanted to be. I didn’t want to be depressed, anxious, not taking care of myself.

I want to be happy, healthy, mentally stable for my kids.

@the_ventingmama

Everybody is facing their own battles every single day. The most important thing is to just be kind to yourself. Give yourself grace.

Something I have been reminding myself on “off days” is that not every day is going to be the best day of my life.

I am only human. I am going to mess up. I will make mistakes. It is how I recover from those mistakes and don’t allow them to turn into habits that matter.

I understand that my mental health needs to be my number one priority. That I need to feel like I am being kind to myself. Because when I am not, that is where things begin to fall off.

I don’t know what the future holds. What I do know is that every day is a gift. And a new opportunity to be happy. To build the life that I want to live.

If you are feeling like you are stuck in any kind of a pessimistic cycle, I encourage you to do some soul searching. Write down what your goals are. What are you dreams? When was the last time you even allowed yourself to HAVE a dream?

Each morning, I start my day by writing down three gratitude statements. It does not matter how silly they seem, I write down three random things that I am grateful for. This morning, for instance, I wrote down that I am grateful I woke up this morning. Because there are some people out there who didn’t. And it is so important to recognize the small things in our every day life that we typically would take for granted.

After my gratitude statements, I write down a “to do” list of all the things I plan to accomplish that day. Most days, my list looks pretty similar. Some days though, I write down bigger goals.

The only person who can change your life is YOU. Happiness comes from within. Once you realize that and lean into it, you have an opportunity to live the life that you have always dreamed of.