How To Stay Positive No Matter What

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I am convinced that you can completely change your life by changing your thought process. It’s not easy but I saw how my life changed drastically in just 7 months. Just by changing my thought process and learning how to stay positive no matter what. I learned to focus on positivity and repel negative energy.

2016 was an extremely tough year for my family and me. We were broke and being broke can have a harmful effect mentally on your life. Struggling to pay your bills, working a soul sucking job, and spending hours on end optimizing an Etsy shop with little success leaves you feeling pretty broken.

It felt like each day was a repeat of the day before. Late December 2016 I decided I wasn’t going to live like that anymore. I was going to change my thought process, focus on positives, and change our lives in 2017.

I started seeing a little bit of success with Etsy in December and made an extra $100 in income that month. While that $100 may not seem like much, when you are broke it’s everything. Of course Rob’s passive income was larger during the holiday season as well. In December we were finally able to breathe.

Check out my post How To Open A Successful Etsy Shop.

Come January though, the extra income decreased and things were not getting better at my soul sucking job. I still worked double shifts, still covering crap shifts, and it was becoming increasingly harder to remain positive. When I lost my grandfather later in the month, I hated that I couldn’t afford to go see the family and be there for my mom.

February, I started blogging on top of everything else. I made $300 in my Etsy shop that month and it was my best month ever thanks to Pinterest. In March, I continued persisting and remaining positive. I totaled $400 that month in Etsy and I continued to put a lot more effort into my blog.

Check out my post The Low Down Dirty Truths About Blogging.

Everything changed for me personally at the end of March. My last remaining grandparent passed, just 7 weeks after my grandfather, her husband. Lucas and I traveled out to Chicago.

This trip was the first time Lucas and I spent a long period of time together without Rob, who stayed in Ohio to take care of the dog. After a couple of days Lucas had a meltdown due to the change in the environment and I started having one too. My mother stepped in and rescued the evening while I stepped outside to breathe for a minute.

Upon returning home, we became short staffed at work so I spent the entire month working like crazy. On top of it, things between staff had gotten worse. It had gotten to the point where I was starting to feel physically ill whenever I needed to work.

My husband and I made a decision. I wouldn’t be working for them anymore. Uncharacteristically, I burnt my bridge. No 2 week notice, just a text saying I’m done.

One hour later I was offered a side gig, 1 week later I landed a work at home gig too. Refocusing on positivity I became a full time blogger. The next three months changed our lives drastically.

By focusing on positivity, I stopped worrying about money and even if money was tight I released that anxiety. Working on my blog didn’t feel like work because I enjoyed it immensely. I even enjoyed my side gigs that helped to cover the bills. Life in general became more enjoyable. The longer I focused on positivity the easier it became.

Changing your thought process to focus on positivity is extremely helpful in any person’s life. You don’t have to own a business, be a blogger, or even work anywhere for a positive attitude to work in your life. Even if you just feel down, overwhelmed, or not yourself, these tips help immensely.

Now I want to show you how you can find your own positivity. Is positivity the only thing that contributed to my successes? Hell no, but it helped me in focusing my thoughts, feeling hopeful, and to keep the worry at bay.

How To Stay Positive No Matter What

I have a few tips and tricks for staying positive in even dark situations. The key to creating a positive mindset is to never give up. It takes practice and reminders to change the habits of your mind.

Make a Decision to be Positive

It’s not as easy as it sounds. In fact, when it feels like the world is against you one of the hardest things to do is look at all the negativity in your life, smile, and say “things are looking up.”

That is exactly what you need to do though. You need to make the decision to not react to negativity but instead to find or create the positive and then focus on it. Make a decision to be positive and that things are turning around.

Make a list of positives

Make a list of all the constant positives in your life. What successes did you have so far this year? Did you tackle a task, complete it, and gain something? Or did you figure out it’s possible to do something you didn’t think you could do? How about successfully helping someone?

Your list is to include anything that you are successful at or positively affected on your life. It doesn’t matter how big or small. A success is a success and it helps you to focus on the positives in your life.

Get Rid of Negativity

I took notice of the negative people in my life and I distanced myself from them. For those I couldn’t get rid of I told them that I wasn’t accepting negativity anymore. That we needed to push each other to be positive.

I know it seems harsh to remove negativity from your life when that negativity is people. However, part of being positive is analyzing which people in your life are actually good for you and removing the ones that bring you down.

My mom shared this with me as a teenager and I’m passing it on to you. Fisherman don’t need to put a lid on crab traps. Why? Because the crabs keep pulling each other down. It’s the same with people. Negative people always pull you down. It’s harder to rise up when you surround yourself with negative people.

Meditate on Positives

I started a daily meditation to stop anxiety and focus on positive aspects of my life. As traffic grew and side income improved, it was easier for me to visualize a continued increase in these things. Even when I had an off day I kept focusing on the good.

Sit in a meditation pose or lay down in a comfortable and quiet place. Most of the time I do this right before bed because that’s when the house is finally silent. Breathe in deeply, hold for 2 seconds, then breathe out. Imagine you are breathing in a white positive light and breathing out a dingy dark cloud.

While focusing on your breathing you will feel your mind start to clear. At this point, while keeping the pattern of breathing, you mentally tell yourself positive reminders. Phrases like. “I am calm,” “I am positive,” “I am successful,” “I have money,” “I am happy.” Or any other positive reminders that suit your needs.

You can create a gratitude or positive thoughts log in your bullet journal to help keep track. Also, consider using a habit tracker to track your mental health status each day.

Check out my post How To Start And Use A Bullet Journal.

Work through the Negative

When you are feeling surrounded by negativity sit down and have a breather. Purposefully change the direction of your thoughts to focusing on positives. Then continue to work through it.

It is helpful at times like this and if you are afforded the ability to plan a staycation to help work through the negativity without anyone around.

Check out my post on How to Plan a Staycation.

By rejecting the negative thoughts and claiming the opposite you are actively working towards a positive. You are stopping the sequence of a downward spiral. It’s ok to slip so don’t beat yourself up for it. The sooner you stop the negative spiral though, the easier it is to climb out of that spiral.

Responding to Failure

Failure at one thing is not the same as failure at everything. Often times I found myself feeling like a failure at everything even though at the moment, I failed at only one thing. Sometimes I fail at one thing which makes me remember and spend way too much time focusing on all my life’s failures. If you do this too, stop!

Failure in one task is not equal to failing at everything. Comparing the failure of one task to the previous failure of something else or all your previous failures is not ok. If it’s not the same you are not allowed to compare it. When you fail at a task you are only allowed to analyze that task. Ask yourself what was working, figure out what wasn’t, and move forward. The greats who failed analysed their failures to learn from them and tried again. You are not allowed to give up.

Do not give up

You are allowed to have off days and failures. Do not beat yourself up for them. You are not allowed to give up. You take a day to breathe and drown your sorrows in Netflix or your hobby of choice. You never give up. An off day is ok but you wake up the next day and you say, “things are looking up.” For more self care tips check out my post 20 Self Care Ideas That Take 20 Minutes or Less.

It is better to ignore the negativity with a distraction like a book, hobby, or tv show, than to dwell on the negative and find yourself going down a spiral. Take a break, ignore the negativity, and then try again after you calm down.

If you let the negativity seep into your mindset for too long it will be detrimental to your health, attitude, and success. By allowing yourself a certain amount of time to heal and then focusing on your successes and the positives in your life you start to see an ease in everything you do. You even notice a calmer attitude towards intense situations.

Comment below with any of your tips on remaining positive. Follow me on Pinterest for more pins like this. Subscribe to receive my posts right in your inbox and follow me on social media to see everything I share.

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