Hey everyone. Today I'm going to talk about how certain stories that we have about ourselves and beliefs that we have about ourselves

actually form and begin and one place from which they form is called overgeneralizing.

Overgeneralizing is when we take one instance and we create an entire belief around that one instance.

Let me give me an example of that.

You're in fourth grade, you're playing kickball at PE, and unfortunately you get picked last. Well that probably doesn't make you

feel so good but that also might plant a seed that you're not very athletic.

So that one instance begins to be this entire story and belief about yourself that then might

inform subsequent choices and behaviors.

You choose not to try out for the baseball chain.

You choose not to run track. You choose to maybe even

sit out from PE based on that one instance. That's overgeneralizing. The thing about

overgeneralizing is that when we do it and when we create these stories and these misbeliefs about ourselves,

it actually creates a tunnel vision in which we filter out any evidence that can refute that story because it takes away the

possibility of you maybe engaging in something that's challenging for you, yes, but not necessarily something you're incapable of.

So there's a couple things I want you to remember as it relates to overgeneralizing.

The first is, where have you overgeneralized? Where have you created a story or a belief about yourself based on one instance?

And this could be in different parts of your life. It could be in relationships. It could be with what's going on with work.

It could be in your athleticism, your relationship with food, your relationship with yourself, how you think about yourself,

but think about where have I overgeneralized, where have I had this one

experience, but based on that one experience I have now created an entire story around.

So the second thing is, what evidence refutes this story?

So think about that belief that you have or that story

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