What exactly is negative self-talk?

Negative self-talk is when your brain says mean things to you, just like a grumpy friend who always finds faults.

Imagine you're playing with your favorite toy, let's say it’s a robot that moves when you press its button. Now, every time the robot doesn’t move perfectly, instead of saying "That was close!" or "I almost got it right!", your brain says things like "You’re terrible at this." or "You’ll never get it right."

This is negative self-talk, when you believe the meanest things about yourself, even if they're not true.

It's like having a loud, grumpy voice in your head that says bad stuff every time something doesn’t go perfectly. It can make you feel sad or frustrated, especially if it happens all day long.

You can try to be kinder to yourself, just like how you’d be kind to your robot friend. If the robot moves a little crooked, you might say "That was pretty good!" instead of "You’re terrible at this."

By doing that, you're training your brain to be more positive and friendly, and soon, it won’t feel so grumpy anymore!