I’m going to confess something. Right here. Right now.
Recently, I haven’t been the best at looking at the bright side. It’s just SO EASY to see my glass as half empty instead of half full.
What’s worse? Sometimes it takes a while to notice when I’m focused on the negative. I try to turn it around quickly, but I don’t always succeed. It’s just hard.
The thing is, focusing on the negative side doesn’t necessarily mean I’m are always angry/mad/sad. It doesn’t mean I’m always yelling or putting off bad vibes, either. It just means I’m LOOKING at the bad stuff. There is so much to be thankful for, but when I focus on the negative, I miss all of that. And missing all the good stuff kind of stinks, don’t you think?
Picture this. One day I was sitting in a class where we weren’t doing anything. I was sitting on the floor charging my phone. I was texting my mom asking if she could pick me up because we weren’t doing any work. I was about to type, “now I have nothing to do except sit here and dwell on ...” Right before I typed those four words, I stopped. I thought what I was about to say. And I asked myself, “Danielle, why are you doing this? Why are you about to type this? Why are you acting like this?” And then it hit me. I was sucked into the negative, and I had been for a while.
But that’s not it. There’s more.
· I was upset one day because my flat pillow gave me a headache.
· Another day, I was disappointed because I didn’t get to do what I wanted to after school (even though it wasn’t really important).
· And for the last month, I’ve dwelled a little too much on how much I hate my recent, much-shorter-than-usual haircut (which, BTW, bothers me every single day when I wake up and look in the mirror).
There are lots of other, kind of small-ish, things to be upset about. They don’t completely change my mood, but they make me upset in the moment. When I let those things bother me, sometimes I hold on to them for too long.
But in those moments, I’m trying to step back and remind myself to enjoy the moment. To find the silver lining. Like when I looked at my CrossFit workout of the day and I wasn’t entirely happy. As I thought about how I could speed through a less-than-ideal workout, I realized that my CrossFit team is made up of seniors who will be leaving soon. I’d be seeing them, and that would be enough. My friends were the silver lining to that “less-than-ideal” workout. And ultimately, it’s why I decided to take my time and enjoy that session. Negativity didn’t win that day.
There will always be darkness, but there will also always be light. And now is the time to learn to see past the darkness so you can bask in the glow of the light.
Forget about getting it done fast. Enjoy the moment. Let go of whatever happened this morning. It’s over.
And that brings me back to my four favorite words. Time after time, they fill me up and bring me back to the light.
Love life. Live fully.
With love,
Danielle