Not just physically tough, but mentally exhausting. The mental load of controlling my self-talk zapped me more than usual. I found myself circling with negative self-talk a lot which made it harder to manage.
So, throughout the session flipping ALL my negative thoughts from “Give Up!” to “You’ve Got This!”
As a young stroke survivor who’s spent years doing endless rehab, you’d think I’d be used to hard days. But today felt like one of those sessions where everything worked against me. Perhaps it was tiredness, maybe it was pain, maybe it was Melbourne’s freezing weather (honestly, probably all three). Whatever the reason, I struggled.
And the hardest part wasn’t my body. 
Throughout the session, I found myself circling with negative self-talk. The kind of thoughts like, “Give up Em… what’s the point… you’re not getting anywhere…”
It took so much mental energy to fight those thoughts. Every time one crept in, I tried hard (whilst concentrating on physically moving) to flip it into something helpful like, “Keep going Em. You’ve done hard things before. You’ve got this.”
By the end, I wasn’t just physically tired, I was emotionally exhausted from constantly flipping my negative self-talk.
But, somehow, I managed to flip those negative thoughts around. And because of that shift, I did perform so much better. The effort was worthwhile.
It reminded me once again, how powerful mindset is in rehabilitation. The physical work, effort and toll is so tough. But it’s the mental strain, the way we talk to ourselves, that makes a massive difference. Some days I feel strong. Other days I feel like I’m dragging my mind along behind me. But the voice I choose to listen to shapes how far I go.It’s the positive self-talk that got me through which reinforced other blogs I’ve written about the power of how we approach difficult situations with our mentality.
So, What’s a phrase or word that makes you feel empowered to keep going?
Is there something simple you tell yourself that flips your thinking around when things get tough?