Most of us don’t realise how negative we actually are in our everyday lives. It is often second nature to moan about our days or gossip about someone or a situation we don’t like. It wasn’t until I tried the positivity challenge of not saying anything negative for a day myself, that I found how common it is to be in a negative mindset and moaning is a standard trait of a lot of people.

I constantly found myself at work wanting to say; “I’m so tired”, “That customer is so rude and annoying”, “I wish I wasn’t here”, or “Did you hear what Kim did the other night!? She’s so embarrassing!”. It wasn’t until I realised how negatively people talk in most conversations that I noticed that a change in mindset was needed. Constantly moaning or being negative all the time just makes you feel down and lethargic.

Stopping yourself from saying negative things can have a great impact on your happiness and personality. You will train your mind to think in a positive manner, which makes you happier. And also, you will have to think of different and more interesting things to talk about. Therefore, this makes you a better person.

Removing negative talk from your life will make you more likable and approachable. People feed off positive energy and no one wants to listen to someone who is constantly complaining or down about things.

Why not try not saying anything negative today, and see how your mindset and mood begin to shift? Here are some tips on getting started with the positivity challenge and changing your outlook from negative to positive…

How to Find the Positives in Any Situation

You can take any situation in two ways, positively or negatively. Obviously losing someone you care about or discovering you have a serious illness is going to naturally make you feel down and negative. However, you can change how you react to any situation you are given in life. Being down and feeling sorry for yourself never gets you anywhere. It may be hard at first but finding some positives in any situation is possible.

You may have just been dumped countless times and have given up hope that you’ll ever find someone. Venting to family, friends, and colleagues may make you feel better at first. However, over time people tend to get frustrated or tired of listening to people’s negativity. I’m not saying don’t speak to your friends about how you’re feeling but if you find that that’s all you talk about, you need to change your outlook.

Once I decided to be happy regardless of whether I found someone or not, I noticed a huge relief off my shoulders and I just started to live my life and work on making myself happy. Focusing on being happy, and positive and not moaning about my current situation helped me to realise how much my life revolved around finding someone to love me. Instead of being happy with myself and enjoying time with my friends.

I look back now and think how did my friends ever put up with me being so miserable and negative all the time over people who are irrelevant to me now!? I know it’s easier said than done, but start for just one day not saying anything negative. You will realise how much negative things consume your life, actions, time, and happiness.

Remember

Sometimes the things that happen to us that we think are awful and hurt/upset us, actually turn out to be blessings in disguise. If you have the attitude that everything happens for a reason and you are positive then you can overcome any situation. This will enable you to come out stronger and happier than ever before.

There’s always something or someone better around the corner. Accept that if a relationship ends it clearly wasn’t right for you. You will find someone better in the long run. Ultimately, this is the best possible mindset to have because you will always be hopeful for a brighter future.

Similarly, losing a job is awful and you will feel helpless and stressed about the situation. You’ll obsess over how you’re going to pay the bills and when you will find another job. It’s easy to get stuck worrying and stressing. However, you’ll often find that things work out better in the end. You can look for an even better job or try a different career you never dared to pursue because you were stuck in a rut at your previous job.

You’ll Be More Grateful for What You Have

Spending a day saying nothing negative at all is also a great way to see the positive things in your life and focus your energy on them. It will help you to have more gratitude for the good things already in your life. Furthermore, it can help you to view the negative things in a more positive light.

Sometimes things seem worse than they are and a bigger deal. However, step back and look at your life more positively and objectively. This will help you to realise that things could be a lot worse and you should be more grateful for what you have.

I find a good way to think more positively about a situation that is stressing me out or upsetting me, is to envision myself one year in the future. I doubt that I’ll even remember what I was upset about. Therefore, it helps me to look more objectively and positively at any situation. Life is too short to spend countless hours worrying and complaining about a situation when it won’t be relevant in time.

This helps me to stop myself from saying something negative about someone annoying me at work for instance. It’s pointless spending energy on people who aren’t important to you or who don’t make you feel good about yourself or make your life better in any way.

Focusing your time and effort on people who help you be a better and happier person is a far better way to be. Commenting on people or situations that aren’t good for you just drags you down and impacts your life negatively.

Stop Negative Self-Talk

Talking negatively about yourself is a very common trait in most people. Not accepting or believing nice compliments from people is another form of negative self-talk. It’s so easy to think about all the things we don’t like about ourselves. “My belly’s so big!”, “I hate my nose”, “I wish I didn’t have bingo wings” etc. Stopping yourself from saying these things will lift your mood. Moreover, it will help to boost your confidence and self-esteem.

Embrace the things you like about yourself instead of focusing on the things you don’t like. Furthermore, if you accept people’s positive compliments about you, then you’ll begin to see a switch in your mindset.

“A negative mind will never give you a positive life.”– Unknown

Summary

Instead of talking negatively and moaning about your current situation, switch to talking positively. This can have a massive impact on your life. You’ll begin to focus on changing the things you don’t like and appreciate the good things you already have in life and the positive traits you have.

Start the positivity challenge today by avoiding negative comments. Pay attention to how you typically talk about yourself and others in various situations. This will enable you to see how much negativity normally exists in your day. Therefore, you will be able to see where you can change your outlook and reactions to be more positive in the future.

“Being positive does not mean ignoring the negative. Being positive means overcoming the negative.”– Ralph Marston

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