It’s Friday the 13, and I can’t help but to naturally flashback to all the scary horror movies I have watched over the years, especially the one that made this day so famous!

Over the years, my friends and I have watched countless horror movies and thrillers, all for the fun of being a little scared. Now, looking back, I might not recommend that… I was practically scared of my own shadow because of it! But, all settled down, I grew up and still check the closet before bed hahaha

All jokes aside, it’s safe to say that we don’t have monsters under our beds or inside of our closets. (Unless you count the skinny jeans in the back of your closet that are slowly becoming too skinny…)

So if we don’t have monsters under our beds, then where are they?

Often times, they’re with us everywhere we go because these are the monsters inside of our heads. Maybe they don’t look like monsters… Maybe they come in the form of social stigmas, comments made by family and friends, the many different ideas of beauty, or the baggage you carry from past experiences. These are the moments that keep us from being greater.

So, what can you do? The monsters are there, and they want to stay.

1. First,  you have to IDENTIFY YOUR MONSTERS. Like most things in life, you have to admit you have a problem, and the problem we have here is that there is something in the back of your mind dictating how you live your life. Once you can figure out what exactly that is, you can have power over it.
2. Second, know that KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. When you know that you have a problem, you are then able to position yourself in a way to fix the problem. Knowing there are little comments that people have made over the years that are still pushing you to feel bad about yourself… that is the second key to overcoming these monsters.
3. Third, you have to EXPOSE THE MONSTERS. This is no surprise to those who have watched scary movies in the dark, late at night, with all the lights off. Why do we watch them like that??? Because it’s scarier when the lights are off, duh!! Try watching a scary movie during the day, with the sunshine beaming in and the birds cheering you on outside with a beautiful song. It’s still a little scary, but it’s nothing compared to when you’re faced with monsters in the dark. By exposing your monsters for what they really are, just thoughts and previous comments or experiences that continue to haunt you, you are able to start placing them elsewhere.
4. Fourth, and lastly, you have to OWN IT. This is my go-to answer to most things in life, just own it, girl! But it applies here just as much as anywhere else. You have to take ownership of what you allow to live and make residency in your head. If you want a positive outlook on life, clean out the monsters and replace them with positivity. If you want to feel motivated all the time, replace all the memories of people telling you that you’re a failure and won’t measure, and change them to times where you are telling yourself that you will succeed and that you already measure up.

Maybe it helps you to know this: We all have monsters living inside of our heads that we deal with on a daily basis. Also, know there is a difference in dealing with them and managing them. I think it’s time we go from dealing with and tolerating them to managing them and overcome those monsters. It’s 2018, and we have work to do. There’s no room for monsters in our head anymore.

– the Wife