The Importance of Being Positive

I genuinely used to be a full-on pessimist. Easy to wind-up, quick to temper and generally a bit of a grump.

Over the past 9 months I’ve really been working to change that. I’m certainly on my way, but I’m by no means an eternal optimist yet.

I noticed just how much more positive I’d started to become recently when talking to someone. Everything they said was taken from a negative angle; no matter how hard I tried to turn it into a more positive slant I was shot down with yet more negativity. Being negative seemed to have become a bit of a purpose for them, and it was wearing them down.

The fact that I was searching for positives in this highlighted the change to me. Last year I might have been tempted to jump on the grumpy band wagon, seeking to point out what was going wrong in my life too.

It felt so much better to be able to step back and think in a more optimistic light. I’m definitely getting better at letting things go, and stopping the little things getting to me quite so much.

I’m aware it’s still something I need to work on, but this little encounter recently highlighted how far I’ve already come.

It’s lovely to think that the more I practise, the more positive I’ll become. I’m not saying I don’t have days when things truly piss me off, or that I never  have a rant and a moan about the general injustices of day-to-day life, but I’m getting better.

What do you do to stay positive? For me, thinking a little more before I speak has really helped. If it isn’t positive I’m trying not to vent it.