Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them. – Marcus Aurelius (Meditations)
The energy you give out you get back. Now I know a lot of people know this concept, but I have truly lived it and seen the great things that positivity can bring. A year ago I was pretty whiny and down on myself. For whatever reasons – not graduating or working on my thesis, not officially moving, having issues in every single personal relationship I had. But, one day after the dust settled and the grief subsided, I realized only I was going to get me out of the hole I was in. It was hard and awkward, but I started by just smiling. People get really tired of only talking about negativity especially if every time you talk it’s the same sob story over and over – no changes. I realized no one wanted to hear it anymore – everyone was nice enough to let me sulk for a few months (thanks everyone seriously I know it was annoying), but if I kept it up I was going to lose friends and family. I also was letting my negativity stop me from finishing my thesis, work on relationship that were important to me, commit to move, and overall be happy.
I hope they don’t mind my calling attention to them, but the best example I have of the power of positivity is my cousin Matt and his wife Oli. I have never met two people who had so many opportunities, adventures, and so much love. I wondered why – in my bad attitude days I was, well to be honest – jealous of them. As embarrassing as it s to admit I always thought ‘they get everything they want! no fair!’ But, once I started smiling and acting positively even though it was hard at first, the stuff I wanted to happen started happening too! Wow. Then my green face turned into a smile for them – the opportunities they earn are exciting and well deserved. I realized they created their own success by being positive, happy, and loving people (obviously with a lot of hard work too) – they most certainly didn’t get to travel around the world (several times) with a bad attitude and a surly face! But seriously click on all the links in that paragraph and see how amazing Matt and Oli are – it will motivate you to start smiling and fulfilling your dreams too.
I needed to write about this because my life is so great right now – my relationship with The Dude is great, my animals and new addition are all healthy adorable and happy, I got the job I dreamed of, and live in the city of my dreams too. It’s such a change from a year ago – even six months ago. How did all this happen? I started smiling.
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Fantastic post!!!!! I’m going to be wearing my smile much more often, thank you xxx
I must be more positive…. Thanks for the inspiring post. 🙂