'I Swapped Doomscrolling for Daily Affirmations—Here’s What Actually Changed in 7 Days'

Mornings are supposed to feel safe and secure, but these days, it’s hard to feel either—especially when the first thing you see is a flood of bad news and doomscrolling on social media. Like many people, I had gotten into the habit of waking up and immediately scrolling through my feed. I’d lie in bed, consuming post after post about everything wrong in the world before I even brushed my teeth.

Unsurprisingly, I was stressed. I was anxious. I was depressed. It felt like a dark cloud was hanging over me before the day even started—and that mood often followed me straight to my desk.

I knew I needed a shift.

As cheesy as it might sound, I decided to replace my morning scrolling habit with self-affirmations for a week. I wanted to see if a small mindset change could help me feel more grounded, confident and in control before the chaos of the day began.

Related: 75 Morning Affirmations To Start Your Day off Right

One Week of Morning Affirmations: A Different Start

Each morning, I’d get out of bed, brush my teeth and look in the mirror, then let the affirmations pour out. Some mornings they came easily:

• “I can do this.”

• “I will secure the opportunities that are meant for me.”

• “I don’t need my family’s support to know I am supported.”

• “I am capable of so much more than I give myself credit for.”

I chose these affirmations after watching a video that included quotes from a film I loved growing up, Dead Poets Society. It reminded me to seize the day, a sentiment I hadn’t felt in a long time. I realized I was trying to give myself the encouragement I didn’t always receive as a child and still don’t receive from my family as an adult.

Related: 105 Affirmations for Self-Love

I Wasn’t Alone in Turning to Affirmations

To my surprise, I learned that turning to positive affirmations isn’t just something I stumbled into—it’s a practice recommended by mental health and academic professionals alike.

Dr. Ashwini Nadkarni, MD,an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, says that she regularly recommends daily affirmations to patients dealing with depression and anxiety.

“Self-affirmations are a common therapeutic intervention for individuals with depression, driven by challenges with low self-esteem, because they facilitate self-efficacy and the belief that one has control over life events,” Dr. Nadkarni explains.

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That really resonated. Lately, I’ve been navigating a series of difficult life events that feel completely out of my control, and doing so without the safety net of a supportive family. Hearing that my instinct to start with affirmations aligned with actual research was affirming in itself.

Dr. Nadkarni added, “Research has shown that self-affirmation increases activity in the brain related to reward—for instance, the ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC). These are parts of the brain involved in reducing our response to stress, so self-affirmations activate neural, reward-based responses to stressful situations.”

Related: 75 Daily Affirmations for Inner Peace and Confidence 

The Shift: From Bed-Rotting to Motivation

Using affirmations each morning helped motivate me to get out of bed earlier instead of lying there doomscrolling and spiraling with anxiety. I even started making the bed as soon as I got up, moving into the day with more intention. Looking in the mirror and giving myself some of the validation I often craved from others helped me start the day on my own terms.

I also started leaving my phone across the room at night to avoid reaching for it first thing in the morning. That small change had a ripple effect on my mindset—it reminded me that even little shifts can build into something bigger.

Related: 101 'I Am' Affirmations to Remind You of How Amazing You Are

Paying It Forward (Quietly)

Some mornings, I took the practice one step further: I wrote affirmations on Post-it notes and placed them where I’d see them throughout the day. “Hey, you in the mirror—you got this.” “You made it through the week without raiding the snack cabinet—you’re stronger than you think.” I even left a note in my grocery bag: “Remember when you filled this with disco balls and spread joy to your friends? You might not always feel shiny, but you are appreciated.”

I didn’t stop there. I quietly began leaving affirmations in public spaces too—on community message boards, in bathroom stalls. I didn’t tell anyone I was doing it. I just hoped that someone else might stumble across a note on a hard day and feel a little lighter.

Related: 50 Positive Affirmations To Boost Your Confidence

Affirmations Helped—But They Aren’t a Cure-All

I won’t pretend this fixed everything. Some days, the affirmations felt silly or hollow. Some days, they didn’t make a dent in the heaviness I was carrying. Saying “I will secure the opportunities meant for me” doesn’t instantly take away the stress of unpaid bills. It didn’t magically repair my relationship with my family or make them support my chosen path, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth doing.

Related: 125 Health Affirmations to Be a Happy Version of Yourself

The Practice Is the Point

What I learned is that affirmations only work when they’re part of a grounded, realistic practice. They aren’t magic. They’re not a quick fix. They are a tool, one that many different therapeutic modalities use as part of broader healing and growth work.

Will Burse, CADC, a certified alcohol and drug counselor and CEO of True Self Recovery, emphasizes the importance of realistic, regular practice when using affirmations. “Affirmations must be specific, realistic and meaningful to be most effective,” he says. “Repeating them regularly, visualizing them and working with them daily can make them more powerful.”

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Sources

• Dr. Ashwini Nadkarni, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School

• "Self-Affirmation Activates the Ventral Striatum: A Possible Reward-Related Mechanism for Self-Affirmation." Psychological Science.

• "Understanding the Efficacy of Self-affirmation Intervention for Subclinical Depression Among Young Adults." Practice in Clinical Psychology.

• Will Burse, CADC, certified alcohol and drug counselor and CEO of True Self Recovery