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Maybe you've scrolled through your Facebook feed / and you think, / "So what / if I roll my eyes? // It's just five seconds of my time. // How could it be hurting me?" // Well, / researchers have found / that envying your friends on Facebook, / actually leads to depression. // That's just one of the traps / that our minds can set for us. // Have you ever / complained about your boss? // Or looked at your friends' lives and thought, / "Why do they have all the luck?" // Can't help thinking that way, / right? // That way of thinking / seems small in the moment. // In fact, / it might even make you feel better in the moment. // But that way of thinking / is eating away at your mental strength. / There's three kinds of destructive beliefs / that make us less effective, / and rob us / of our mental strength. // The first one / is unhealthy beliefs about ourselves. // We tend to feel sorry for ourselves. // And while it's OK to be sad / when something bad happens, / self-pity goes beyond that. // It's when you start to magnify your misfortune. // When you think things like, / "Why do these things always have to happen to me?" // "I shouldn't have to deal with it." // That way of thinking keeps you stuck, / keeps you focused on the problem, / keeps you from finding a solution. // And even when you can't create a solution, / you can always take steps to make your life / or somebody else's life better. // But you can't do that / when you're busy hosting / your own pity party. //The second type of destructive belief that holds us back / is unhealthy beliefs about others. // We think that other people can control us, / and we give away our power. // But as adults who live in a free country, / there's very few things in life that you / have to do. // So when you say, / "I have to work late," / you give away your power. // Yeah, / maybe there will be consequences / if you don't work late, / but it's still a choice. // Or when you say, / "My mother-in-law drives me crazy," / you give away your power. // Maybe she's not the nicest person on earth, / but it's up to you how you respond to her, / because / you're in control. // The third type of unhealthy belief that holds us back, / is unhealthy beliefs about the world. // We tend to think that / the world owes us something. // We think, / "If I put in enough hard work, / then I deserve success." // But expecting success to fall into your lap like some sort of / cosmic reward, / will only lead to disappointment. // But I know / it's hard to give up our bad mental habits. // It's hard to get rid of those unhealthy beliefs that we've carried around with us for so long. // But you can't afford not to give them up. / Because sooner or later, / you're going to hit a time in your life / where you need all the mental strength that you can muster. //