How to Create Healthier Beliefs

Have you ever felt like you were covering up your true self? Have you believed something but you were not sure why? Have you ever been taught something by someone and just adapted it as your own? If you can answer yes to any of these questions then over the years you may have developed false beliefs. When I realized that the majority of my beliefs were false I went into depression. I felt as if my whole life was a lie and I had no idea where to start. It was recommended by a college professor of mine that I attend therapy with the campus counselor. I was very skeptical at first, thinking that they would not be able to help me in anyway. During my first session the counselor gave me resources. These resources were available so that I could connect with others who would understand what I was going through and who could support me. The last thing she said to me was, “You are more than your past. You are who you believe you are. You can make your life whatever you wish it to be.” I went home and pondered on this for a while and realized that she was entirely right. I could change if I was ready to change and I was entirely ready to create healthier beliefs in my life. After attending some groups I met many others who were at that point in their life as well so they were able to support me in the changes that I wanted to make with my beliefs. They also gave me insight into the false beliefs that I had.

What are Some Common False Beliefs?

Many people who have been diagnosed with depression, through counseling and other means, often find that they have many false beliefs that have been weighing them down. Everyone grows up with different experiences and learns things that they adapt into their own life. Sometimes they change their beliefs as they grow and sometimes they do not. Sometimes the beliefs that are created are very unhealthy as well. When getting down to the basics of my beliefs I realized that I had many of the most common false beliefs.

Life owes me everything. When I started looking at my beliefs I realized that one of my main false beliefs was that life owes me everything. It turned out that many of the people in the group I was attending had found this to be one of their main false beliefs as well. I had thought for years that because of all of the horrible things I had gone through (sexual abuse, being raised in a divorced family, having many bad relationships, etc.) that life owed me everything in return. The truth is that life won’t just hand me or anyone else anything. Everything worth something takes hard work, commitment and patience. If you are someone with this belief one of the first things that you can do is recognize the belief and start making a list of things that you want in life. When you have this list you can create steps to how you can reach each of these goals. This can help you to change your belief from life owes you everything to you are going to achieve everything in your life.

I can’t get out of my current lifestyle. Again, as with many of the other people who were in my group at the time, we shared another false belief. We believed that we couldn’t get out of our current lifestyle. Many of the people who were attending the group, including myself, were addicts (I am currently 4 years and 3 months sober) and we had tough times that we had gone through as well. We believed that we were stuck in the way that we were living because we weren’t making progress in our lives and nothing was changing. I was told by a very wise woman there, “nothing changes until something changes”. If you are like me and many others it is important to realize that your life will continue to be the same until you commit to changing your lifestyle and then continue changing your life until you are happy with it. I got sober, created a recovery plan and a stress management plan. By this time, my depression was lessening and I was feeling much better about things. I began to see that things could go my way if I created healthier beliefs in my life.

Life changes when you change it. The longer you live with false beliefs the more difficult they are to change. However, you have the choice just as I did to create healthier beliefs and end the existence of your false beliefs. Just remember doing so takes hard work, commitment and patience. When you have those three things you can watch your life turn around.