Dysfunctional beliefs

Dysfunctional beliefs. Sounds really negative, right? It kind of is. It is that voice in your head that makes you feel that what you are doing is not upto the mark. Or you should do only the things you are good at. Or success = happiness.

Everyone, from every sphere of life goes through these thoughts and they are then built into limiting beliefs. Beliefs which hold you from trying out new things or letting you realize your potential. 

Let’s not talk about how these beliefs are bad. Because we all know they are bad. We have seen motivational quotes telling us they are bad. Let’s just see how little changes in thoughts can bring massive improvements in how you can see things differently.

Comfort zone isn’t growth zone

How many times do we feel that if we are in a place where we feel nice, it is the best place on this planet, physically and mentally? 

Its normal human tendency to build and enjoy routines. No one likes the chaos that a change might lead to. People feel so comforted in what they are doing that they always look for ways to be in that state. This is dysfunctional belief.

That’s not good enough. No matter how much ever our brain loves routines, its breaking them that will make us understand the growth potentials we have. When we start trying out new things, the horizons of learnings that we can explore increases multifold. This then gives us options to grow into things where we never thought we could even learn the fundamentals of it.

Comparison syndrome

All of us see thousands of influencers on multiple social media sites. These influencers romanticize the idea of ‘If you are not doing this my way, it’s the wrong way’

This creates a simple disconnect from the life that a person is actually living from reality. Yes, influencers maybe good in selling whatever product or lifestyle they must be selling. But we need to realize that it’s what they believe to be the best for them.

A person, looking at it from their phone screen, should realize that their own core values and beliefs may not align with someone else’s. Like the saying goes ‘Grass is always greener on the other side’, we need to realize that we should be designing our own lives, to the best of our capabilities. The FOMO factor should be totally chucked out.

Why should we care?

Well, apparently, a lot of us do care what someone else says about us. Be it our parents, friends, peers, the neighbors, whoever. Everyone instantly forms an image of us in their heads. 

This belief that ‘What will they think?’ is what is extremely prevalent, especially in this part of the world. No one pulls us down like we do ourselves. It’s the image, what we may project onto someone, pulls us down, by ourselves. This might be the most dangerous form of dysfunctional belief.

The ‘No F***s given’ attitude can go a long way. If you know that you are giving something your best shot or continuously learning from your mistakes or dressing in clothes which make you feel the most comfortable, that’s all you need. That will help you build the confidence to take on the chaos anyone might ensue upon you. 

Not that bad, right?

Dysfunctional beliefs are bad. But how we face them, analyze them and tackle them is what helps us in growing. The environment around us is enough to build belief systems in our heads that are negative or limit our growths. 

But when we take these beliefs and question why they are building up inside of us, is when we can take the positive out of the negative. Designing your own positive reinforcements for dysfunctional beliefs will always be rewarding. It will feel that what we are building is for ourselves alone and no number of external stimuli can shake the foundations of it. 

Dysfunctional beliefs may just be harmful. But if the energy from those is channeled in the right way, the growth and learnings increase exponentially.