🌟 For all my fellow anxiety warriors out there, this is about stopping ourselves from taking on board or interpreting other people’s thoughts or opinions about us.

When anxiety rears its head, remember, you have the power to let people think what they want. After all, you can’t control that. It's about giving your mind the rest and peace it needs to focus on your own goals, without second-guessing everyone else. We women, often guided by intuition and compassion, tend to see - or rather, perceive - multiple angles. Remember, perception can be either harmful or helpful, it's your call to decide!

Speaking of perception, I was diving into Ryan Holiday’s fantastic book, "The Obstacle is The Way," during my precious 15 minutes of 'me time' during the holiday season (trust me, with two kids under ten, no extra childcare, a husband back at work, I’m not writing this from a sun lounger, ladies 😅). Holiday offers brilliant insights from the ancient Greek philisophers, the Stoics, on choosing how we perceive things. You can only control what you think, act, and do. 📚

Here’s my shortcut version and my own new Theory: The Nope Theory

Over the festive period, my kids got a new game, Exploding Kittens. 🐱💥 It’s a kind of Russian Roulette with cards, aiming to be the last one without an exploding kitten card.

In the game, there’s a card that quickly became my life mantra. It’s called the NOPE card, allowing you to cancel a previous player's action. Now, we can’t exactly do that in real life, but imagine if you could wield its power in a better way! 🤔

🚫 Playing your “NOPE” Card 🚫

Adapt this concept to your mindset, particularly for retraining it to reject negative thoughts or fears about what others think of you when you go about living your life (cue getting out for fitness/exercise/singing in public etc - am I right?). Instead of letting your mindset sink, we go higher (shoutout to Michelle Obama for this phrase). 🚀

So, next time your anxiety goblin tries to take over, firmly and strongly say, “Nope”. This simple act does wonders:

🙅‍♀️ It's a resounding NOPE to negative self-talk.

🙅‍♀️ It's a resounding NOPE to self-doubt.

🙅‍♀️ It's a resounding NOPE to saying yes to things you really want to say no to.

Let’s give our own peace a chance (borrowing from John Lennon here). ✌️

I’ve been practicing this NOPE technique since Christmas, and guess what? It works like a charm. 🌟

📣 Here's your call to action, lovely sisters

Next time you feel overwhelmed, try saying “Nope” and see the difference it makes. Tag me on social media using #NopeTheory. Let's embrace our inner strength together!

Stay exceptional and remember, your thoughts shape your world! 🌍💕