From Gremlins to Gratitude (Free Art Printable)

by Linda | Mar 21, 2016 | DIY printables, my creative journal

I admit it’s a sad situation. I’m lying in bed, nursing my baby and surfing the Web. This has been a bad habit of mine with both my kids, because I end up consuming a lot but creating nothing, subsequently feeling pretty negative as a result. Enter the gremlins.

It usually boils down to a scarcity mindset because I see all the amazing things people are creating and I’m jealous and sad that I’m not part of the crowd who seem to have so much success. Outcast feelings bring back bad memories of the social pressures from high school years – ugh, yuck! Have I still not outgrown that rubbish, yet? I beat myself up for not finding the time to do what I want, to create, to … I dunno… to be successful somehow.

I’m not just be a frazzled mom – I want to have another identity.

It’s a cycle of negativity for me and creates unnecessary stress in my life. I know it’s just negative thoughts swirling during a time of particular weakness, but it’s not easy to shut the gremlin voices in my head.

I really need to change things up.

So here I am blogging at 6am instead of just dropping back to sleep. I often write to myself in my head anyway and thought perhaps it will be better to actually write it out for real because at least I can say I did something!

So I don’t think I’m the only one with these feelings of envy and ultimately the mindset of lacking in life. The gremlin voice seems to proclaim that others have it good and they are the lucky ones. Alas, we can’t all be lucky… right?

But wait just a minute… I’m a grown up girl and honestly, I know this funk is just getting the best of me. Successful people work hard to get success… It’s not luck. And there is so much possibility, it just takes time and effort.

So I started thinking about the abundance mentality because I know there are always opportunities, chances for change, improvement, wealth and success – whatever that may be to you – because, heck, we hear about people succeeding all the time. Every single day. Probably every second there is someone shouting eureka in some language… don’t you think? That’s what started this whole post… All the consumption through blogs, social media and videos on the Web and witnessing other people and their wins.

Instead of caving into the anxiety of feeling like a failure, comparing apples to oranges and the unnecessary pressure of it all, I need to think of abundance, possibility and amazing opportunities offered by this day in age with the wonderful Web. I CAN make it happen, too.

I need abundance mentality inspiration and motivation.

It’s about changing my perspective to having an outlook of great possibility. That there is enough for all of us and plenty of opportunity out there. Because my thought is that an inspiring mindset leads to motivation and hopefully the work – which is what really leads to results.

The mindset is crucially important though because we all need the mojo that gets us to actually DO stuff and keep at it.

So I thought of a 3 pillar step-by-step abundance mentality inspiration mantra to beat the scarcity gremlins in my head. Here it goes…

Gratitude

When negativity strikes – I need to quickly switch to thinking about all that I am grateful for. A roof over my head, a supportive husband, healthy kids, an amazing family, the fact that Nutella exists, coffee exists… Really so many things, big and small count, making this a good life. It’s about moving out of negativity into the positive realm of appreciation.

Good

Whatever is stirring up bad thoughts, I need to turn it over and around to find the good side… How can it be good for me personally? Where is the silver lining? Did I learn something? Maybe sometimes it’s about not following xyz person on social media because it doesn’t jive with me or help me at this time. That’s an important realization. No shame. Ultimately, what can I take away and work on to better my own life? Reframe the situation to good.

Greatness

Finally, do something and feel great. If I’ve learned anything in all these years of exploring creativity, it’s that creative action gives me good vibes and usually more mojo. Catalyst! So from negativity I want to move to the greatness of doing something. Even with the responsibilities of a mom with young kids, I can design beautiful cards for my Happy Print Club or just write a blog post like this one. I can still accomplish things and still have my own creative identity.

Maybe after reading about the successes of others I can implement a new biz technique or improve a little part of my online presence. Tweak here or there. Maybe the take away is that itls not something I actually want ir care about in the end. Or maybe it’s just baking feel-good cookies or throwing a load of laundry in to wash, because there is definitely greatness in taking care of my family and showing my love. It’s always a good idea to end with greatness!

I admit that writing this has given me clarity and yes, I did purposefully choose words starting with the letter G. It just worked out and now I can feel clever about it – hah!

From gremlins to gratitude, good and finally greatness. It’s my new mantra for turning envy into something productive.

After re-reading my post I decided to create a printable poster with this mantra to keep abundance and possibility top of mind. Nothing like a motivational printable to make my day! You can download the free printable in your paper size below by right clicking and saving to your computer.

LTieu Gratitude Good Greatness LETTER
LTieu Gratitude Good Greatness A4

If you like design printables and want my weekly email updates, sign-up for my newsletter here. I hope this mantra will help you during those challenging times when we all could use a little help. Enjoy and beat those gremlins!

So I’m curious, how do YOU avoid the negativity pitfall and get into an abundance mindset?