Thursday, August 13, 2009

Negativity

What do you do when you are surrounded by negativity, and it is draining the life's blood out of you? How do you deal with people who are motivated by anger and look for only the negative and never the positive? We have all had to deal with that at some point in our lives, and it can wreak havoc on our confidence and sense of self-worth. And it has sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy effect -- the harder you try to do something right, the more you know you are going to do it wrong. More negativity, more lack of confidence, and around and around it goes. Oh, you can do something good such as teach people a new skill, or volunteer to take on some project that no one else wants to do -- or whatever. Those are positive things, but it's not as much fun to point out the positives. The negatives are so much more exciting. I think there are people who tend to look for the negatives in other people, in order to make their selves feel better. "Oh my goodness, will you look at that. I'm glad it's him and not me."
Or perhaps it's to detract from what they may perceive as their own shortcomings. I think the flip side of negativity may be fear. In my opinion, the best we can do is to try to be kind to each other. You never know what is going on in someone else's life, and in such cases, a little positively goes a very long way. We're all only human, and none of us gets out of here alive.

Life is too short for being miserable whatever your circumstances. I learned a while back to just side step negative people. Friends who bring me down I've just let fall by the wayside. Too many good folk out there to fill my life with.

3 comments:

Bob G. said...

MSN:
VERY well said...and that explains why I have SO FEW friends in Fort Wayne...LOL.
(too few people that are not negative)

I'm guilty of being negative (by design and by the neighborhood surroundings), and it's a CONSTANT battle to keep the "barbarians at the gate" from entering.

But, I also get strength from that tinge of negativity...it spurs me to want to DO SOMETHING POSITIVE.
So in that instance, it's a good thing.

I just make sure I don't come to use it like a drug addict and DEPEND on it all the time.

Of all the facets of human nature, negativity CAN be USED to accentuate the POSITIVE in every one of us.
We can always dump the excess baggage, but it's nice to keep that "overnight bag" to keep us in check.

Thanks for the post...got my brain MOVING today, and I never turn down a jumpstart!

:)

Katie said...

This was really good Gram. Im struggling with a negative friend myself and you have really brought some insight into my life. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

If you pay close attention to the 'rantings' of 'physic vampires' you might notice that they speak of other people and situations by asking questions a great deal of the time. "Why does she dress like that?" "Why would anyone want to do so and so?"..Questions need answers. These people are looking for attention and they get more from asking questions than from making a positive statement. In short, most are sad, lonely people and they will suck you dry emotionally. Smile and move on....quickly!
Snakefoot