33 Positive Affirmations for Depression [Transform Your Mental Health and Life]

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What are affirmations?

You probably know exactly what affirmations are, but just in case, let’s review.

The idea is that our thoughts govern our feelings (thinking “I’m so ugly” makes us feel bad because it is negative self-talk, while thinking “I’m incredible” makes us feel good with positive attitudes), what we feel affects the actions we take (think of how much better your work is when you’re focused and happy, compared with sad and overwhelmed) and those actions eventually create our results.

The reality we live in. 

So it makes sense that if we can focus our thoughts onto something positive that serves us, eventually our reality will start to mirror a version of those thoughts. 

The more you focus on how great you are, how capable you are and how worthy you are, the more you will feel happy and strong. These feelings of happiness and strength will guide your actions to being positive ones that have an awesome impact on your life and so the results of these actions will be positive. Affirmation statements are worth making time for, right?

Self-love affirmations give you the opportunity to be the best version of yourself every single day. Making them part of your daily routines is new skill that has positive effects inside yourself and to the outside world.

 

Why you should use affirmations?

Aka how to deal with depression using affirmations…

While we are not suggesting that affirmations are going to cure your depression

(let’s be real here that’s going to require a whole load of lifestyle changes and most likely medical assistance) they can go a seriously long way to helping. 

Because depression causes you to ruminate on the less pleasant aspects of your life, having a sentence or two as daily positive affirmations to focus on when depression is crowding your brain with all the horrible things can really help. 

So rather than you sitting in a corner of the room ugly crying on the floor because your brain is bombarding you with all your failures in life and what people must think of you, you can instead focus on your favorite affirmation to create positive self-talk and combat low self-esteem. 

We are not saying your brain will just magically stop throwing all that shit at you. But that affirmation will act like a nightlight in the darkness, stopping the monsters under the bed from being able to reach you. 

And maybe one day, it might be like turning on the main light in the room, completely scaring those monsters away. The power of positive affirmations is that they have a cumulative positive effect on your brain to train it as a daily little reminder of unconditional love.

How to use affirmations?

First, pick one or two that really resonate with you and that you can believe in.

It’s no good picking 17 affirmations and not being able to remember them, hence why we recommend one or two.

It’s also no good picking an affirmation you literally don’t believe in, otherwise every time you use it your brain is just going to be like “well that’s a load of rubbish”.

For example, say you were struggling with self-love and feeling good in your body. While a great affirmation might be “my body is beautiful”, if you can’t believe it it’s not going to work. So, in this case, it would be better to pick a more neutral affirmation like “I have a body”. 

Now I get that this doesn’t sound very inspiring, but it’s still changing the narrative around your body. 

Whereas before you might have been thinking negative thoughts around your body like “I’m so fat, ugly, skinny, hairy, hairless” (whatever your poison was) now, using the more neutral affirmation, you are no longer pushing that negative narrative meaning eventually you can move into a more positive thought process around your body.

You will notice the majority of the affirmations below are positive; if one resonates with you but you know you’re not quite there yet feel free to tweak it so it’s more on the neutral spectrum. 

Secondly, start using the affirmation in a way that works for you.

Some people like to write their affirmations out, some people like to say them out loud, you can meditate on them, repeat them to yourself, create cute printables, and stick them up around your house. 

All of these are valid ways of using affirmations and hey if you really want you can use all those options. 

There is no best way to use them, the only best way is the one that works for you.

Personally we recommend spending time in the morning saying affirmations to yourself and repeating them as part of your morning routine. You can also create a cute printable to hang in your home to remind yourself to say your morning affirmations. 

Just do whatever works for you and that’s sustainable every day.  

 

 

Using Affirmations Tips

While using affirmations is actually pretty easy, these extra tips can help make them even more powerful.

Consider what your goal for using affirmations is.

It may sound super obvious, but you would be surprised how many times people pick an affirmation that’s great but not actually aligned with their goal and aligned with their inner world inside their brains to create change.

For example, it’s very easy to get swept up in shiny object syndrome when you see all the possible affirmations you could use and their potential.

We get it. Your goal might be to get over depression, but hey let’s throw a couple of money related affirmations in as well because who doesn’t want more money…

But this is the wrong attitude to have. Less is more with affirmations so make sure you pick ones aligned with your goal of positive thinking, healthy boundaries, creating a happy life, living a better life, improving your emotional health, and/or positive outlook in everyday life.

Try to only use positive language.

Affirmations generally work best if you only use positive language.

For example, “I am courageous” versus “I am not scared”.

The first one is wayyyyy more powerful than the second because in the second one you are still focused on the thing you don’t want to be, scared. 

So if you notice any negative language in your chosen affirmations try and reword them and stay positive instead. They act as mental sticky notes.

Use present tense language rather than future tense language.

Affirmations work by you thinking that affirmation as a thought, that thought then elicits a feeling or emotion and it’s in the power of the emotion that you act. Then it’s these actions that create your results.

So what gives you the better feeling, “I will be strong” versus “I am strong”.

Most likely it’s the second one. Using “I am” or any present tense language is always more powerful than future tense language.

 

 

33 Positive Affirmations for Depression

1 – I can create a safe space for myself where ever I am.

2 – I am strong.

3 – I love myself unconditionally.

4 – The universe only wants the best for me and that is where this path will ultimately lead. 

5- I give myself permission to do what is right for me. 

6 – Challenges in my life help me develop strengths.

7 – I can choose my thoughts.  

8 – I can help others. 

9 – I can choose to be happy. 

10 – I am a positive person.

11 – I can choose to be positive. 

12 – Feelings of happiness come naturally to me. 

13 – I give myself permission to grow, learn and change if I want to. 

14 – I can allow myself to wholely be myself without judgment. 

15 – I accept my emotions and don’t need to fight them.

16 – I am here because I’m meant to be here.

17 – I’m good at helping other people and animals.

18 – I am on the right path because whatever path I’m on is the right one.

19 – I’m worthy of life simply by existing. 

20 – I have a lot to offer this world. 

21 – I accept myself. 

22 – The depression does not define me. 

23 – I am positive.

24 – I belong in this world.

25 – People care about me. 

26 – I deserve to be happy.

27 – I deserve to be loved.

28 – I do not need to be perfect, I am enough. 

29 – I am the master of my life.

30 – I am allowed to make mistakes and I forgive myself for any I have made and will make. 

31 – I trust myself to make the right decisions. 

32 – I am enough.

33 – I’m worthy of taking up space simply by existing. 

 

 

Quotes for Depression

While I don’t recommend you use quotes as affirmations, I do find that a good quote can give you great affirmation ideas. 

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” – Charles P. Kimbro

“Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.” – Rikki Rogers

“Being brave isn’t the absence of fear. Being brave is having that fear but finding a way through it”. – Bear Grylls

“Happiness is a choice, not a result. Nothing will make you happy until you choose to be happy. No person will make you happy unless you decide to be happy. Your happiness will not come to you. It can only come from you.” – Ralph Harslon

“Happiness is letting go of what you think your life is supposed to look like and celebrating it for everything that it is.” – Mandy Hale

 

Don’t Forget to grab daily self-care routine to beat depression for good!

Improving your mental health and happiness with just a couple of simple tweaks to your day is possible — no matter how hard things are right now.

And it’s those simple tweaks that’s precisely what you’ll learn when you download the daily self-care checklist that many have used to overcome depression.

Just click the button below to grab your copy and get ready to take back control of your mental health, so you can wake up each morning with a smile on your face (or at least not drenched in a sea of panic, overwhelm and sadness like you’re currently feeling…)

PLUS, when you sign up today you get the BONUS planning your day printables (a $13 value).

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You deserve happiness, to have your emotional needs met, and to be your own best friend.  Using affirmations as part of your everyday routine is a mindfulness practice to set you in the right direction of self love.