My story explains the struggles I had as a 23-year-old divorced single mother with three children, ages six, four, and one, and then shows some practical ways I used to change my life and reclaim my personal power. Self-pity, anger, guilt, and self-hatred were my constant emotional companions. I was suffering physically, mentally and spiritually. In 1980, he was earning $80 a week, receiving sporadic child support payments of $300 a month, and living in fear that he would not survive. I was afraid of life and worried endlessly. I smoked, ate unhealthy foods, didn’t exercise, and spent endless hours watching television. My mind was constantly focused on what everyone else in my life would need to change so that I could be happy. Since I couldn’t change anyone else, I thought I was a total failure and couldn’t do anything right.

With Alanon’s help and counseling, I realized that I have options and that I needed to change. I heard my own internal dialogue. It was negative. I replaced my internal dialogue, “I’m stupid” with “I’m learning” and “I’m worthless” with “I’m good enough.”
One goal he had was to quit smoking. The studies showed the negative effects of smoking and I didn’t like the fact that he was addicted to cigarettes. He had tried to quit many times before. Success was achieved when I used visualizations and affirmations to quit smoking. Affirmations are simple statements that you say to yourself, such as “I can”, “I am good enough”, “I succeed”. Saying affirmations works because your subconscious mind believes exactly what you say. However, I was gaining five pounds a month, and being good at math, I realized that if I continued, I would weigh sixty pounds more in a year. Determined to stop smoking to eliminate the weight gain, I turned to affirmations and exercise.

When I first started working out, my muscles were sore and I wanted to stop because I wasn’t seeing results fast enough. I would say the affirmations to help me get through the exercise. Not only did my physical strength improve, but also my self-image and outlook on life. Focusing on the affirmations made the workout easier because I was thinking about positive things. Just as my body reaped the benefits of working out twenty-four hours later, so did my mind. I found throughout the day that I would be repeating the affirmations.

Combining exercise with affirmations helped me with many of my daily struggles. If I was in an uncomfortable situation, I would start to connect with the uncomfortable feeling that I had resolved and affirmations would come to my mind. They helped me gain the self-confidence I needed to address my everyday fears and insecurities.

My spirit was increasingly at peace as my body and mind worked together as one. Positive energy filled my being. Not only was I learning to accept and love myself, but I had more energy to cope with being a single parent.

This simple technique of saying positive affirmations while walking, running, or lifting weights is a great way to boost self-esteem and learn to love yourself in your whole mind, body, and spirit. I wanted to share this exercise technique with affirmations so “Power of Positive Aerobics” was created. To learn more about the exciting exercise video that combines affirmations with aerobic movements, visit powerpositiveworkouts.com.