So if you are waiting for the final installment in the three part series on individualism and socialism, I am going to make you wait only one more day, promise. In the meantime, lets look at another aspect that seems to be invading our social mentality, negativity. Whenever I am out and about in the world, there seems to be a distinct negative cast that has become part of our every day lives. Granted, we are struggling to recover from the worst economic recession in decades and there are millions of people out of work, but it seems to be increasingly overbearing. I notice this especially when I walk into stores, banks, or other businesses and try to chat with people working there. Normally, I try and start a conversation with a positive spin, normally with the weather and how it is getting better or some other trivial snippet. Despite my best efforts to remain positive, people seem to be able to turn any comment either into something about their "miserable" life, how the weather sucks, or how everyone is going to get sick. Just the other day, I ran into a store to grab a few quick supplies for work, started chatting up the clerk about the beautiful weather outside (sunny and 55 after 2 days of rain) and her rebuttal was, "Yeah, its nice, but everyone is going to get sick with the crazy weather." What seems to be the problem with enjoying the weather for a day?
Its not just the weather, but people's concern in general with the trivial events that may happen or are happening to them and their ability to dwell immensely on the negative aspects of them. We live in a tumultuous world where we are constantly bombarded by negativity from every angle, our family, co-workers, the media, government; you name it, they are negative about it. There almost seems to be an addiction to finding the negative in any situation and exploiting it to its fullest potential, bringing down those around you in the process. If you get sucked into this negativity, you are only doing yourself and those around you a disservice. Regardless of what your situation is, there is something positive to be found in everything. When you get into a rhythm of negativity, it seems that there are blinders put up to everything else around you and the focus is kept on what is wrong with the world or your life. Its a debilitating cycle that is tough to get out of. I will be the first to admit, I as well have a tendency to get sucked into this cycle from time to time. If you look at my blog, you might say, most of what you write about has a negative cast. That may be true, but while writing about it, I also try (focus on the try) to put a different spin on in, where it could either impact our lives in a beneficial way or provide us with a means for making a difference.
Remaining positive is a daily struggle for everyone. Its not easy to pull yourself away from the negativity circling through our society. One negative comment from someone can set off a chain of negativity for the rest of the day sometimes. Dwelling on the negative will only increase the stress in our lives and more importantly, negatively impact those around us. I mentioned yesterday about trying to keep a playful, child like manner about us. We should do the same today. Did you ever watch a little child playing? They are in ways immune to the broader negativity in our society. They can't comprehend the economic recession or the impact it has, they don't care about any world wide crises, and they certainly don't care about the negativity coming from the media. All they care about is the building blocks in front of them, nap time, their next meal, and the love they get from their parents. In addition to imbuing our own lives with a more positive spin, if you have children, the greatest impact you could have is to remain positive around them. Bring into your own lives that sense of fun and play that is so easy to them and things will seem a little bit brighter. The only negativity that children know is the negativity that their parents may have or portray to them. It will have a big impact on their future lives.
Being positive, as I mentioned before, is a struggle. The benefits of being positive however, far outweigh the downfalls of being negative. Smiling, it has been shown, that simple act, can reduce stress, improve your life, and help you to live a longer life. We could all do with a little more humor, smiling, and laughing. Search for the positive in every situation and exploit it to its fullest potential. Be the person walking down the street with a smile on your face, possibly infecting someone else with a little positivity. Turn a negative situation into a positive one and make a little difference in your own life. The world may be full of downers, but it doesn't mean you need to prescribe to them and get all doped up on negativity. Its almost the weekend, one day of work left (unless you work on the weekend) and maybe start with that as the first positive influence of the day, the simple realization that within 24 hours, you could be relaxing with friends or family and enjoying yourself. As always, I implore everyone to start making a difference by first making a difference in your own life. People's attitudes are infectious. If you go through the day being positive and happy, someone else will catch the fever and turn their crappy day into a good day. I will end this on a corny note: "Don't worry, be happy."
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