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Not just surviving...Thriving!

DAY ONE: Coming back from your wit's end

Remember the half-real, half-psychosomatic tummy ache you used to get on school days when you had a big test, a teacher that hated you, or a bully that wouldn't leave you alone?
Here you are, all grown up, and thinking about going to work brings back that same knot in your gut --and it's not something you've just made up to avoid earning a living--it's the result of realizing the impact of all things you have to face today.  The negative attitudes, apathy, indecency, selfishness, deception, and downright cruelty that absolutely turn your stomach.
How can you possibly be expected to be happy, productive and successful in the middle of such a toxic environment? 
In the middle of a workplace like that---full of duplicity and double-standards--I somehow found the peace, strength, and capability to rise above it and become stronger, wiser and happier, in spite of it, and I want to share what I have learned.
You were not designed for "just getting by" or "holding up."  You were designed for greatness, but maybe your mindset is holding you back.  The first thing you have to do is let go of the misconceptions you have about yourself...ideas that have seeped in, through a bombardment of the kind of abuse a toxic environment inflicts on you each day.  Here are some of the things I KNOW you tell yourself, because I used to feel the same thing when I looked in the mirror each morning:
"I'm not good at this...I can't do this...I'm can’t handle this..."
This kind of anti-pep-talk all culminates into a single resounding statement you've grown to believe: "I'm not good enough." All of these feelings seem so real, but nothing could be further from the truth. 
There's a scripture in Proverbs that says "for as he thinks in his heart, so is he."  That’s power. Don't use that power to define yourself with ideas that will disrupt your peace of mind, undermine your confidence, and, in the end, destroy your own opportunities for success, personal growth and spiritual stability.
Change begins here, with an antidote of truths you'll need to force, at first, in order to turn things around. Say them out loud.
"I AM good at this...I CAN do this...I CAN figure this out...I AM able to handle it all. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me."

Instead of being pushed around, be the driving force for change in your life today.  You're not just "good enough.” In Him, and by Him, you are stronger than you seem, more capable than you think, and closer to victory than you realize.

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