As many of you know, last week was a tough week for my family. With the loss of Marty, it has been tough to stay optimistic. But through writing and talking about my feelings, I’m coming back to my more positive self. In general, I’ve noticed that our world has become a more negative place. Positivity is key if you’re looking for success, progress, and overall happiness. And to me, becoming a more positive person comes from a couple of different things:
- Jeremiah 29:11 “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord. ‘Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.” With this Bible verse in mind, I just know that different things in life might just might suck, but ultimately, God has plans to make me a better person and bring me closer to Him. All that happens is meant to happen and it will all be okay in the end.
- Count the things you have to be thankful for. I think becoming a more positive person is all about perspective and when I say that, I mean that we need to recognize the things we have in life that others may not be as fortunate to have. Remembering this allows me to be grateful for the wonderful life I’ve been gifted and stay positive.
- See the alternatives. There may be times in life where you’re faced with a difficult situation. Maybe your car broke down. Maybe you failed that chem exam. Maybe worse happened. With growing your individual positivity, there are many different ways to look at a situation. Looking at the chemistry exam example, maybe you did fail the exam. But you will learn from your mistakes and become a smarter person from that. Perspective comes in here again. Be thankful that you have the opportunity to be taking a chemistry exam and learning to become whatever it is that you want to become. Things could be much worse, and unfortunately there are some people in the world that have it much worse than you do. Be good to yourself and be good to others.
- Be kind to yourself. As a perfectionist, this can be difficult for myself when I underperform, but I’m learning how to work through that. It is important to be kind to yourself. Allow yourself to take study breaks or work breaks. Meditate, allow yourself to have a cupcake or piece of chocolate every once in a while. Celebrate the little bits of progress. Being kinder to yourself will allow you to trust more in your own progress within the different parts of your life.
- Pay less attention to the negative thoughts in your head. This can be a tough one too because I feel like society is so hardwired to be negative nowadays. Don’t do this. You can’t do that. Any negative thought can be altered into something positive and that’s just what you need to do with it. Let’s say I’m really struggling to hit backhands one day when I’m out hitting with my dad and sister. Instead of saying, “I can’t hit backhands. I suck,” it would be much better for my own mental health and tennis game to say, “I’ll get this next backhand in,” or visualize what a good backhand is going to look like. If you can train your brain to alter the negative thoughts, you’re going to find much more success and happiness with what you do.
I’m going to end this post with a quote that I want you all to keep in mind this week.
We become what we think about.
Emily Nightingale
And it’s so true! Positive thinking leads to positive people that leads to more positive results. Positivity is key everyone. I understand being realistic but I believe that being realistic comes with positivity. Have a good week everyone and I’ll see you next Sunday.