How to Deal with Negativity

I am not sure if I really believe that everything always works out for the best. Bad stuff happens to good people for no reason - all the time. Sometimes life can really suck and for a long time. People may offer a cliché to make others feel better such as “everything happens for a reason.” They offer little comfort but allow for possible reasons to justify or explain why a particular horrible thing has happened. Having faith and believing that everything will work out are techniques people use to help get them through the tough times. Dealing with negativity is all about how you handle the situation in the moment and how you will allow it to impact you in the future. This article details two ways of how to best deal with negativity.

Have you ever noticed how one negative event can snowball into an avalanche of negative things? You lose your job, you go on unemployment, you get behind on your bills and then you face foreclosure or eviction. This change reaction of negativity can make it hard to see your way out of the darkness. To stop the snowball from overtaking all aspects of your life, you need a little ray of optimism to see you through. Try to think of one good thing in your life that makes you happy. Use that one happy thing to envision a positive future. Can’t think of one happy thing? Fake it. Fake optimism can work just as well as the real thing. Pretend to be happy, smile at strangers on the street, skip around your house and pretty soon you will start to feel that happiness radiate through your entire body.

Your new happy attitude will allow you to be hopeful in regards to your new experiences and see the positive possibilities. When you always have negative expectations, it is hard to stay motivated to continue to move forward with your life. You no longer do your best, resulting in the negative outcomes that you expected. Choosing to be happy will allow you to stop expecting only negative things to happen in your life.

We all make mistakes. We all fail at something in our lives. We all go through periods when we feel things aren’t working out the way we want. No one is perfect all of the time. Be easy on yourself. I am not saying to just let everything and anything go and not look to better yourself and engage in self-improvement. But, I am saying that you should be forgiving and accepting of yourself. Often, we are harder on ourselves than anyone else in the entire world. We forgive our partners, friends, co-workers and lovers for a multitude of transgressions and don’t allow ourselves the same type of forgiveness. Once you accept yourself and love yourself, you will naturally expect the best. You will take disappointments and setbacks as the temporary obstacles they are meant to be and not burden yourself with misplaced blame and the expectation of perfection. Don’t internalize every negative thing that happens to you in your life and let it ruin your self-esteem and confidence. Love yourself and don’t allow outside forces to dictate your self-view.

Put on your protective shield of happiness and love to combat all the negativity this world has to offer.