By Becca Lory Hector, CAS, BCCS

Watch Becca’s video about the steps she took to rid herself of negative self-talk by changing what comes across her newsfeed. Here are the written highlights of her living positively autistic talk on input.

Negative Self-talk, other people’s criticisms and some of my bad life experiences were forms of input that caused me inner struggles and conflicts. Changing that input (or negative thinking pattern) is something I worked on after my autism diagnosis so I could do make my life better and more enjoyable.

In order to change unwanted thinking patterns, you need to control what you read, see and watch.

Steps for Changing Negative Input

Step 1:

Think about what and where you spend the most of your energy start there.

For me it was social media, and anyone who spends lots of time on social media knows that it can be a landmine for negative thinking.

Step 2:

Comb through and clean out the unwanted input.

I took a close look at all of my social media feeds. I looked at all the people and pages I followed who were full of thinking and expressions I didn’t want to use anymore…and I unfollowed them. I don’t have to see that stuff anymore. I also made sure that the people and pages who were encouraging and inspiring showed up first in my newsfeed.

Step 3:

ADD the desired source of input in huge lumps.

I also made sure that the people and pages who were encouraging, inspiring, humorous and have a sense of lightheartedness—the kind of input I want and need to see—showed up first in my newsfeed.

The End Result:

By taking back control of my input and my output changed. I wasn’t so apt to use negative words and angry tones of voice. Positivity in has meant more positivity out.

I recommend setting input boundaries for yourself and see if it transforms your inner-thinking. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you.

Do you have any other ideas for controlling your input? I’d like to know what works for you too.

Read about Becca

If you liked this post, you may also like:

• More on Autistic Self-Care
• Becca’s vlog on “What is the Right and Wrong Way to Do Self-Care?”
• Autistic-Approved Autism Glossary
• How to Find Autism Resources

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