I know. It seems a little awkward, but there is science backing up the benefits of positive affirmations, so bear with me!

Positive affirmations are statements used to challenge unhelpful or negative self beliefs. They're backed up by self-afirmation theory which says that people need to maintain their perception of themself as good. There's MRI evidence that practicing self-affirmation tasks lead to an increase in certain neural pathways, decrease health-deteriorating stress and lowers stress and rumination. See here for links to the research.

Affirmations should be personal things, that tap into your core values to help you release negative beliefs. They literally rewire your brain 

• Keep a notebook near you for a couple of days and jot down any negative thoughts that keep popping up. Maybe it's things to do with your body, or about how capable you are, or how popular.
• After a couple of days, go through the thoughts line by line and assess how true they are. Eg, if the kids had cereal for dinner, does that really make you a bad mum?
• Rephrase the negative thoughts into more positive ones. So in our example, it can become "I am a good mum and my kids are always fed."
• Choose a couple that really hit home, write them on a note and stick it to the mirror and say them to yourself at least once a day.