Having a strong sense of who we are, and liking that person, is one element that contributes to our ability to bounce back from life's many challenges. High self-esteem and positive self-perception helps us avoid getting crushed by the bumps and roadblocks of life and motivates us to keep moving forward, even when we don't feel like we can. If we maintain a positive sense of who we are and our abilities, we can lift ourselves up above the darkness. But, when we allow our minds to give in to the negativity and create negative self-talk and self-imagery, we can end up creating self-fulfilling prophecies that suck us into dangerous vortexes. Being aware of the power of a positive self-perception can help us create "attitude adjustment" plans for those times when we need to activate them and keep us moving forward.