Sometimes, Staying Positive Takes Work

I sometimes think of keeping a positive outlook as if it was my job. I don't feel like going to my job every day; and yet I still go, because I have to. There are measurable benefits to going to work: a sense of purpose, money, health benefits. Same for having a positive attitude.

When I try to stay positive, I get certain benefits:
1) lack of misery
2) less stress
3) happier people around me
4) attraction of more positive experiences and opportunities

Whereas when I'm miserable and depressed, I get:
1) mired in misery
2) full of stress
3) sadder/angrier people around me
4) more bad luck

Seeing that positivity yields more rewards, I feel that it is a strategy that I should make an effort to employ. Not just when things are going great; but most especially, when things are going awful.

Obviously, this doesn't always work. Sometimes we feel so terrible that it feels that nothing will snap us out of it...we either "process" these bad feelings through the passage of time, purposely distract ourselves (shopping, booze, lost in entertainment), or just get stuck in a rut for days (weeks, even months).

But often, with a bit of conscious effort, we can get out of our funks relatively quickly and without the use of controlled substances or escapism. I compare the effort to dragging on a steering wheel as to suddenly change direction in your car.

For example, today I was suddenly reminded of something that really depressed me. The depressed feeling started to gather momentum as I started dwelling on the memories and "if onlys". But this was Sunday, dammit, and the weather was beautiful...I was NOT going to let this trivia from the past (and it WAS relatively trivial) derail my day.

So I dragged on my steering wheel, pulling it in the opposite direction:

1) I consciously identified the fact that I was heading for a funk.
2) I asked myself what positive actions could I take at that moment to turn my feelings around.
3) I reminded myself that staying positive was my job; and that the job had tangible benefits.

I think the real key here is #3: reminding ourselves that we choose, ultimately, to be happy or not. It is an incredible feeling of empowerment, and it really works.

As for what I did today to change the direction of my "car"...well, I wrote this post! :-)