What You Can Do to Stay Positive

*This post focuses on staying positive right now, during the blunders of 2020, but you should be able to use these tips to stay positive through any kind of tough situation.*

The news for the past few weeks has not been anywhere close to fun to watch. Somehow everything that could go wrong in a year, is going wrong. And at such a time it becomes easier to let negativity take over you, your emotions, and your thoughts. Things start looking bleak, you start losing hope and all you can think of is how the situation could get worse.

But if everyone started thinking like that, things would never get better. And it’s always harder to stay positive than to give in to the negative energy of your surroundings. So here are a few things you can do feel more hopeful and stay more positive at a time when everything is wrong.

1. Express Your Gratitude: There are many things to be grateful for in your life, even if you don’t see them at first. You could be grateful for the sight that helps you read this, or the phone/tablet/computer you are reading this on. My country has free healthcare and I’m extremely grateful for that. I’m grateful for this platform that allows me to fulfill my dream of sharing the knowledge that I have and will have in the future. And when you feel like you don’t have something to be grateful for, use the fake it till you make it technique. "Thank you for this wonderful, privileged life that has given me so much to be happy about." It might just be the placebo effect but saying that much, even when you don’t think it’s true, might make you feel a lot better.

2. Focus on the Good: With the news reporting all the terrible things happening, it can be easy to forget that good things are happening around the world too. They may not be on as big a scale as what the news is showing you, but to stay positive you need to balance the time you spend reading about the gruesome reality and about things that make your heart feel warm and fuzzy. Watch videos of people doing acts of kindness, dogs glowing up after being rescued, soldiers coming home to family. Shed a tear or two for the good things too. Don’t stop paying attention to current affairs, but if you need to take a step back and breathe, it's ok.

3. Do a Social Media Detox: It’s easy to start feeling hopeless when you are following over a hundred pages, all showing the terrible events unfolding right now. If you start feeling overwhelmed by all the information on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, close all your apps and turn off notifications for a day. That information will still be there when you login in the next day, so take some time off from the information overload right now. Stay away from any news outlets for a day and then ease back into it when you feel ready to look at the news without it affecting your vibes.

4. Take Care of Yourself: Getting good quality sleep and eating proper food will keep your mind and brain healthy and happy. Proper nutrition correlates to better moods and lower anxiety levels. Do things that make you happy on a normal day. Or maybe even do something that makes you cry if getting an emotional release will make you feel better.

5. Meditate: Sit down in a quiet space. Close your eyes. Take deep breathes and with each exhalation, let go of the stress you’ve been holding onto. I find that unclenching my jaw and relaxing my shoulders does wonders for me so you can try that too. If you want more meditation tips, check out these two posts: Meditation on the Go and The 5-4-3-2-1 Meditation

6. Talk to people you trust: Talking to my mom about how I’m feeling always relieves any tension I have. She’s a life coach but even talking to her as just my mom is so helpful to make me feel better. She knows that when I laugh, I feel better, so she makes me laugh as hard as I can. And it works every time. Find someone who can make you laugh like that. It doesn’t even have to be someone you know. I find John Mulaney and Kenny Sebastian hilarious, so if I need a laugh and my mom is busy, I watch their videos. But talk to someone if you can. They might have had a similar experience and could help you through this.

7. Write down what you’re feeling: Even if you do talk to someone about your feelings and emotions, writing them down will only make you feel better. You’ll have the chance to do some introspection and will be able to process your thoughts and maybe organize them clearly enough for you to explain what you are going through. I’ve tried this only a handful of times in my life, but it was helpful every time.

That is pretty much all I can say right now. If you found this post helpful, do let me know. It’ll motivate me to write more of these. Please stay strong; things will get better. – Aarushi