You vs. You: The Battle Within

The biggest enemy you will ever face is the one staring back at you when you look in the mirror. The doubts and fears that you have inside begin to develop a voice that stops you from making progress. You tell yourself that you cannot do something or that you’re not good enough. Once you believe it, that lie becomes the truth. You hesitate when making the moves that you know you should make. It causes you to miss out on opportunities or it causes you to have setbacks. You could be farther along in life if you would have only made the same moves you talked yourself out of years ago. That person in the mirror tells you to play it safe when you know you should be venturing out. That same person will tell you to be reckless during moments when you should be cautious. You do the things you shouldn’t do. You don’t do the things you should do. Pride and ego get in the way and it stops you from being the person you were created to be. Every decision you make comes down to one person, you. Yes, there are external influences that may affect the choices you make. But it still comes down to you. Every single day, we step onto this battlefield between our ears. Some days, victory will come easy. Some days, it won’t. I wish I could tell you that it eventually becomes easier. It doesn’t. Life changes. As you begin to master one season in life, that season changes. Now, it’s a new battle. But there is good news. You can overcome this. It starts with changing your mindset completely.

One of the things that helped me win the battle daily is realizing that every decision I make is on me. Once I accepted that responsibility, I begin to see things differently. I looked in the mirror and told myself to get out of the way. I purposely replaced my fears with words of affirmation. When the voice inside told me that I couldn’t, I told it that I could. Then I begin to show it. That scream became a whisper. Another thing I had to do was learn how to take my emotions out of the equations. It was not good for me to live life based off of my feelings. I was losing that way. I had to figure out what my core values and principles were and start making my decisions based on those. I’ll admit, that was and still is difficult at times. But it has helped me to develop a self-discipline that I never had. Let me give you an example. I wake up some mornings and my feelings will tell me not to go to the gym. I may be a little tired and it is extremely cold outside. But because one my core values is my health, I then tell myself that I must go. I want to be in good health for my family and I want to be able to play with my grandkids without any problems when that day comes. For someone else, you may be constantly talking yourself out of going for an advance degree in your field because you do not feel like taking on the extra work load. But if you went by your values instead, you would realize that this degree will open up new doors and opportunities that are not available to you at the moment. This may sound strange, but once I learned to take me out of the equation, I begin to be victorious in areas that I never was before.

We must be smart about how we fight. Even though there are a lot of external factors, the decision-making process begins within us. Therefore, the tools we use must strengthen us internally before they are effective externally. No matter what others may have said or done to influence how you are internally, you can take back your power by realizing that every choice you make from here on out is on you. You may not be able to control the thoughts that flow inside your head, but you can take control of them once they are there. When a negative thought comes, capture it by realizing what it is. Then immediately replace it with something positive. Kill it and do not allow for it take root. You can win this battle. It does not matter if you want to fight or not. If you choose to do nothing and just let whatever happen, the totality of your life will reflect that. You can dominate on your mental battlefield. The things that worked for me may not work for everybody. Find a way to win. Just remember that when it comes to the battle of You vs. You, you will always be victorious. The question is, which version of you will arise to the surface?