If you’re going through hard times you may not be feeling the strongest or proudest or most confident you ever have. That’s okay. We all have seasons of life and we can’t be at our best at all moments.

Don’t expect that you’re at your best all the time. We’re human. We have ups and we have downs. But sometimes those downs get down and it’s hard to change the momentum. Sometimes we feel like an imposter in every facet of life. You know what? Let’s fake it.

Tell yourself you’re capable. Tell yourself you’re smart. Tell yourself you are strong and independent and beautiful and whatever it is you need to hear. Impersonate the person you want to be.

The psychology of both positive AND negative talk are well established. When you psych yourself up, you start to believe it and act accordingly. When you talk yourself down, you start to believe that too. So be kind to yourself because there’s a lot of evidence that supports the idea that you behave the way you believe.

When you think you’ve screwed up, you get mad at yourself and mentally beat yourself up. Then, invariably, you do things that make you madder at yourself – we can all think of the self-sabotage moments because we weren’t in a good headspace.

The opposite is also true though. When we encourage ourselves, when we are supportive and forgiving and respectful to ourselves, we do more respectable things and rise. When we cheer for ourselves we do more things worth cheering.

Give yourself room to learn and explore. Don’t expect to be perfect the first time out of the gate. Expect that you will make mistakes and learn from them. Expect that there is room to grow and start small.

Cheer yourself on. Recognize your accomplishments and take the moment to acknowledge them. Be proud of yourself and you’ll keep doing things worth being proud of.

Even if you’re just pretending you know what you’re doing until you actually figure it out. Even if you are a wreck inside and you’re just impersonating your healthy and functional self. Fake it. Support yourself and your efforts. And you will reap rewards.