Words have power and especially negative ones coming from those close to us; parents, friends or partners, so is there a way to overcome it? It trips you up, upsets your day and could even change the course of your life. Most times, hurtful words come from adults who have some authority over us – more often at home than anywhere else. In addition, someone can say these words intentionally or unintentionally, and they would still hurt.
Without realising it, some of us carry these words with us and allow them to shape how we live – but in the worst way. For example, we may start deciding that we won’t participate in certain activities or try learning new things because “we are not smart enough.” Think of a time when you were little, and someone said something mean to you like “You’re dumb!” or “You’ll never be good at …” How does it make you feel right now? When you want to participate in something now, do you feel insecure, incompetent, and inadequate? Is this rooted in the unkind words someone once said to you?
Sadly, we allow other people’s mean-spirited words to form bondages in our minds. Although we’re not able to control other people’s tongues, we sure can take responsibility to not internalise their words in such a way that we end up making bad choices for ourselves – where we miss out on challenging ourselves to grow and achieve good things simply because someone once said, e.g. “You’re dumb.”
Join Given and his guest Danny as they share various examples of snide-centred remarks and statements resulting in feelings of shame and insecurities and how these affected them. You’ll also get great tips on how to overcome the way those negative words affect you so you can live your best life! If you need help along the way, as we all do, please drop in for a chat via our Youth Hotline. For more inspiration listen to our podcasts on iono.fm.
I Am Youth web radio is the go-to platform for today’s young adults. Our team of young, charismatic influencers is based in South Africa. We produce high-quality content on TikTok social media and YouTube. Our primary goal is to infiltrate the spaces that young people already occupy.
