Your Emotions
Unpack your negative BY DANIELLE ORNER
P
eople constantly comment on my smile. Whether I am practicing yoga or walking down the street in a summer dress, strangers will stop me to tell me I am an inspiration and will marvel at my positive attitude. Since I came of age in a children’s oncology ward, these comments are nothing new to me. It has taken me more than a decade to realize that it is okay for me to still have negative thoughts. I used to be ashamed of any negativity infiltrating my thinking. After all, I was supposed to be a strong young
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Amp it up! magazine  MARCH 2013
woman who defied limits and believed in herself. As a result, I pushed any self-deprecating thoughts or doubts down and battled to keep them there. Because I was afraid those thoughts would overwhelm me and pull me down with them if I gave them any airtime, I hid them under a layer of guilt and embarrassment. Unfortunately, although I didn’t realize it at the time, those thoughts continued to control my actions and perspective from their hidden place. I obeyed their regulations just as my body obeyed the gravitational