Introduction:

Telling myself, I am allowed to enjoy the moment without worrying about what’s next or whether something will go wrong, I find very difficult. I am constantly anxious about the future. I spend a good part of the day with anxiety and anxiety.

Emotional reactions:

My emotions fuel my worry and difficulty with letting go. Emotions like fear, insecurity, depression, hopelessness, and guilt, all significantly increase my worry. I fear not being good enough, smart enough, strong enough, and capable. My insecurity stems from past hurts, past messages I got from others, past rejection, as well as past mistakes. I realize that mistakes are simply opportunities for growth. I am diagnosed with bipolar II disorder, meaning I have more episodes of depression than mania. Depression encompasses hopelessness and despair, leaving me with a negative mindset and hope for the future and the inability to experience happiness. Guilt and shame is caused by my past mistakes and failures, but I realize that they were not really failures, just part of the process of healing.

Personal experiences :

I was taught to always think about the future, my future, which in some ways is good. However, my go-to mentality is taking everything to the extreme. Thinking about the future turned into worry and anxiety about the future. It’s good to have hope, dreams, and goals, but not to have them to the extent of worry, affecting the present moment. My dads mindset to always prepare myself for the future. He failed to teach me, however, the emotional benefits of living in the here and now. As I got older, he changed that mindset and would say, “Be here now,” which I desperately needed to know back when beliefs shaped my life.

Reflection:

What triggered this need for this affirmation in my life? I’m going through a tough time recalling past bad decisions that negatively impacted my life. I am trying to be gentle and forgiving of myself knowing that I was in a much darker place when I made those decisions. I am not who I was now. I have grown and learned a lot of things about myself since then. I know now if I was in that situation now, I would make a healthier choice. As I said, past mistakes are just opportunities for growth. Worrying about the past or the future is detrimental to my overall happiness in this moment. I think about what experiences I would like to enjoy more fully, and I think of how far I have come, and I just want to enjoy the happiness I experience now in my life. I still have bad days, but I am having more and more good days, and I just want to enjoy those good days. I envision peace, happiness, contentment, stability, and hope if I embrace this affirmation. One thing I do daily to integrate this mindset is keeping a gratitude journal. I have found that identifying things I am grateful in my life significantly improves my mental state and allows me to enjoy the present moment more fully.

Conclusion:

All this is to say that developing this mindset is crucial for me to keep the happiness and peace that I experience when I choose to let go and just “be here now” as my dad learned to say. Not to live in the past or to worry about the future. What is going to happen, is going to happen, so I might as well enjoy this moment, right now.


I am allowed to enjoy the moment without worrying about what’s next or whether something will go wrong.

From the I am app: https://iamaffirmations.app/download

6 responses to “Living in the Present”

  1. anxiety can be so hard to deal with, as is living in the present, I find that hard too sometimes!

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    1. I understand that. Hopefully you will have more and more good days that you can enjoy.

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  2. REMEMBER IT IS OK TO THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE. THAT IS ALWAYS GOOD, BUT DON’T FOCUS SO HARD ON IT YOU CAN’T ENJOY THE PRESENT. FOR ME THAT IS HOW I LIVED BECAUSE THE PRESENT BROUGHT SUCH PAIN…..BEING HURT, BURNED, ABUSED AND NEGLECTED WAS MY PRESENT. SO AS AN ADULT I WAS ALWAYS WORKING TOWARD THE FUTURE BECAUSE THAT WAS A “SAFE PLACE” BUT THE PRESENT FELT LITERALLY TERRIFYING AND I FELT SO ALONE IN THAT. I WASN’T TAUGHT TO REACH OUT, SO ASKING FOR HELP WAS NOT EVEN ON MY RADAR UNTIL ABOUT MIDWAY THROUGH MY THERAPY IN MY 40’S LOL.

    I AM PROUD OF YOU FOR ALL THAT YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED IN YOUR LIFE. CONTINUE TO FORGE AHEAD, BUT IN THAT ENJOY THE PRESENT. REVEL IN THOSE LITTLE JOYS. A SQUEAL FROM ONE OF YOUR PETS, A HUG FROM BARKLEY AND JUST JOY IN DOING SOMETHING WELL.

    LOVE YOU ALL!

    M CAT 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yes, that is very true, but I was never taught to just enjoy the simple things. I had to always be looking to the future to prevent something bad from happening. I was told, “what you do affects your future so you don’t want to mess up your future.” Worrying about what would happen in the future became a constant worry for me.

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  3. YEP I GET IT, SO TRY TO SLOW DOWN AND JUST START WITH ONE THING A DAY. THAT’S HOW MY OLD THERAPIST HAD ME START. SHE WANTED ME TO FIND ONE THING A DAY TO ENJOY. IT GOT MUCH EASIER AFTER I ALMOST DIED IN SURGERY FOR THE COLON. I HAD NEVER BEEN THAT CLOSE TO DEATH BEFORE AND SUDDENLY THE LITTLE THINGS BEGAN TO LOOK AND FEEL SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT. SO NOW I FIND JOY IN THE SMALLEST OF THINGS AND HOPE YOU WILL TOO!

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    1. Yeah, I am trying. Seems I only get to that late at night though, lol.

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