By Sherylynn Niezen – Email
Girls will probably relate to this first thought a bit better but stick with me here for a second, you know how you get so used to your clothes that you can look in your closet, see nothing, and then proclaim to anyone that will listen (perhaps you even need to phone someone) that “you have nothing to wear”? This usually happens because you see your clothes everyday, you feel like everyone else sees your clothes everyday and even though you may add a new article of clothing every couple weeks it all just blends together and becomes standard and normal, producing nothing fabulous to wear.
Now if you can grasp all that, perhaps you will get this next thought a bit better.
How’s your attitude? Have you become so negative that every time you go to start a new challenge it seems boring, overwhelming or non-adventurous? Maybe you throw a few positive thoughts in there every couple weeks but it gets so swallowed up by all the negative thoughts that you can’t even obtain it if you wanted to. Perhaps you evaluate your life and then you update your Facebook status with complaints, you tweet about your anger, you text everyone you know so they know how unfair your life is and you constantly speak negatively about every challenge, assignment, person, place or thing that you come across. To be blunt, do you think that this makes you a fun person to talk to or to be around?
Being honest today folks. And I don’t say this because I’m always been the little miss Joy that everyone wants to talk to but because thinking negatively is a mindset that so many people, especially students, can get trapped in. If someone asked you one day “Why are you punching yourself in the face?” you most likely would respond that you had no idea you were punching yourself in the face and you would want to stop doing that, because it sucks. Odd comparison, I know, let me explain. Since negative thinking can be a trap that gradually sneaks up on you, it becomes more damaging over time as your view on life becomes so horribly distorted, you will most likely lose friends, and your motivation to succeed will begin to dwindle away. So damaging that you don’t even realize that every time you talk about how much you ‘hate’ a teacher for an assignment they gave out or how ‘everyone’ always cuts you off on the road that you start believing that nothing good happens in your life. Similar to a friend looking through your closet and seeing a ton of awesome outfits that you could wear and wouldn’t have seen on your own, once someone points out to you that you are hurting yourself with your negative viewpoints why wouldn’t you stop doing being so negative? That just makes sense to me.
I am not pointing fingers today or trying to make anyone feel guilty, but instead giving the opportunity for you to really look at how you process and view life today. Sometimes all you need to get yourself out of the trap of negative thinking is for someone to be blunt and tell you to snap out of it. SO SNAP OUT OF IT. Take an extra second before you think today and determine whether your words are going to be encouraging or damaging. Will your Facebook status be yet another complaint or should you just let it go as opposed to blowing something out of proportion? If you dwell on negative thoughts it will overtake all areas of your life. Take action to speak or write out a positive in every situation and before you know it positive and encouraging thinking will alter your outlook on life and make your days enjoyable again!
