The title of this blog sounds super cheesy. I am naturally a pessimist and been called a "Negative Nancy". I consider myself more of a realist but I am guilty of being negative. I'm not a perky person who gets excited about everything. I'm more of a Garfield who hates Mondays and throws a fit when I have to get out of bed. But being negative hasn't gotten me far. I was feeling angry and not trying anything new because I didn't even want to give it a chance. I worried about what others thought and I didn't trust anyone because I instantly had negative thoughts. But then my dad died last June. Instead of continuing to be negative I found a new way to channel my grief. I bought a journal and instead of just writing out sentences of how I felt I started writing out positive messages and words. Instead of writing something negative I write something positive even if I'm angry or sad. This is for 2 reasons. 1. I'm thinking how I feel and instead of continuing to feel horrible I'm changing how I see it and then 2. when I read back on how I feel days or weeks later I feel better instead of getting in an endless loop of negative feelings. I actually feel better when I do this. I don't have to keep up with it every day and I'm also being creative because I color and draw doodles to go along with my words. I write about how I'm strong, how I am making my parents proud.
I always had this idea that there was only one way to journal. And that never worked for me. I started this journal before I knew who Rachel Hollis was. But she talks about writing in a journal every day. I've always made to do lists and I like to write but this writing has been really helpful. Hollis says when making to do lists you shouldn't write about what you should do but write like you've already done it and to continue.
Besides writing positive thoughts I've also applied this to my life. I am my worst critic. Again I am negative and I have too high of expectations on myself so I'm constantly telling myself I'm not good enough. It is a horrible habit that has stopped. Instead of telling myself for example I'm not a morning person I am working on a better morning routine and I'm telling myself that I can be a morning person. Bad habits are hard to break but if you want something you will find a way to make it work.
Just by making this one change of changing my negative thoughts to positives has already made me a lot happier and its bleeding into all aspects of my life. If I continued to be negative I never would have been open to being a morning person. Hollis says having a good morning routine sets you up for a great productive day and she's not wrong. I now have a journal for personal thoughts, one for business and one for family. It is similar to a New Years Resolution but instead of breaking a resolution by mid February I'm revising and adding to my goals, challenges, wants and needs.
Much like trying to lose weight, when I stopped trying to do what everyone else was doing and not putting a deadline on it I have seen a lot of change. If I said I had to to complete this by Dec. then I would give up when I didn't keep up with the work. But if I put the deadline as forever then it is easier to keep up with and I'm not as hard on myself for not sticking with change every single day.
I encourage everyone to at least try writing. Whether its a list, words, whole sentences or whatever you need to make a change. One change leads to other changes and before you know it you'll be living the life you want to live.
