Positivity: (n)
- the state or character of being positive: a positivity that accepts the world as it is.
People always tell me, “You’re so positive.” At times, I think people neglect to distinguish the difference between positivity and happiness. To me, happiness is the emotional mindset of feeling joyous. Whereas positivity is feeling happiness no matter what the circumstances are. Positivity is a choice and it is by no means given.
I have gone through some times in my life where I was not happy. Even though I had plenty of excuses to not feel happy, I chose to be positive. In my blog post Significance of Stress, I discussed how taxing stress is on the body. So, that is why I focus so much of my life on being positive.
Even though I pride myself in being positive, I still struggle often on a daily basis to be positive and not be stressed. So, I wanted to share with you some of the things I do when I am struggling to stay positive.
- Music. I have a playlist on Spotify that I listen to in order to try and lift my thoughts and put whatever is bothering me into perspective. I will be continuing to edit this playlist as new songs come out!
- Self-care. Depending on how much time I have, I will try to make an extra effort in taking care of my body to try to shift my focus and calm my thoughts down. Some of the things I love to do are bath bombs, face masks, paint my nails, etc. I use these as a distraction from my racing thoughts but also take care of myself at the same time! It’s a win, win!
- Read. I never really used to love reading because I am a slow reader and I never liked the books we were required to read throughout high school or college. However, I think there is so much value in reading whether it is educational or fictional. I have started to try and get back into the habit of picking up a book and trying to buy more books that I think I would enjoy reading. The book I am currently reading is The F Word by Lily Pebbles.
- Watch YouTube videos. I have always been able to clear my mind watching TV or videos when I am struggling mentally. I don’t typically watch TV anymore unless it is a sports game, but I do love YouTube. I only subscribe to the people I truly love and love watching their videos. One of my favorites, as you probably know since I talk about her a lot is Lydia Elise Millen. She is so amazing! I love how much variety she has on her channel, while she is still so true to who she is. I seriously could go on and on about how much I love her and her channel, but why don’t you just go and see for yourself.
- Exercise & diet. These are the 2 most important ways you can prevent yourself from a negative mindset. I am a personal trainer, so I completely understand the value of exercise and eating a healthy diet. I don’t particularly like the feeling of working out, because it is hard! But I do it because of the health benefits and the feeling I feel after it. I mentally feel like I have a clear mind and more energy. In terms of diet, sugar is also one of the worst things you can consume for your body. If you are someone who struggles with staying positive, I highly recommend decreasing your sugar consumption and see the difference you experience.
There are many things I do to snap out of a negative mindset, but for me, these are the biggest tools I use in order to stay positive when I am struggling. I hope you found this blog post helpful and try to implement a more positive mindset into your own life.