The internet these days helps us to connect with people from all around the world and share our thoughts, ideas, and views about numerous things. We often come across people who have a cynical and pessimistic view of certain things, which usually have a great outcome.
What is a Positive attitude?
A person is known as an optimistic person if he/she has a positive view of the outcomes. They are often described as people who see a glass of water half full rather than half empty. Having confidence and hope in certain situations improves our mental and physical health and helps in reducing stress. As said by Suzanne Collins in the book Hunger Games, “Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.” Being hopeful can give us strength and courage to face our problems instead of fearing them. It also gives us patience and endurance to continue our fight rather than tempt us to quit. The hope of a new, better day is the thing that keeps us going when we are in the darkest place in our lives.
Optimistic people are often self-motivated and see an opportunity in every new day to achieve something, which makes them a lot more productive than pessimists.
But it is not always wrong to expect the worst out of a situation as there is a chance of something going wrong. It is called ‘the gut instinct’ in today’s terms which proved to save many people from potentially life-threatening situations. The only catch is when something like this happens, it triggers us to see the worst in other people and suspect innocent ones. This could eventually go too far extents such as racial discrimination. So we should not see the worst in everyone, but we should be careful and be ready to face any situation.
Hence it is essential to think positively, live healthy and happy, and be equipped and prepared for any situation.
What is a Negative attitude?
It is the state of mind of a people who always expect the negative outcome in every situation with little to no good thoughts.
What can negative thinking do to you:
Negative thinking slowly manifests itself within a person and gradually goes from just being thought to affecting their actions daily. This negative attitude towards everything affects the way that they see themselves and society. This could also be the underlying cause of self-doubt, low self-esteem, and even anxiety. Negative thinking can also cause health conditions such as a weakened immune system, lack of hormones that are required for happiness, chronic stress, and even a stroke in a few cases.
So it is clear that a negative attitude is awful not only for your mental health but also for your physical health, then comes the question.
How to stop negative thinking?
To stop negative thinking, you need first to identify what is the source of this. Psychologists often mark this as a health issue like cold, fever, allergies, or even exhaustion which causes depression and eventually negative attitude. Hence the key to stopping negative attitudes is a healthy life which constitutes a balanced life, sufficient rest, and regular exercise. This plays a huge part in stopping negative thoughts as they are ultimately the chemicals produced in our body. Listening to motivational videos, podcasts, reading books will keep inspiring you to achieve more in life. Every morning when you wake up, think about the things you are grateful for in your life instead of thinking about what you are missing. Avoid negative emotions like anger, jealousy, and hatred. Always be open to forgive people and forget unnecessary things that might interrupt your mental peace. Clear your mind before sleeping by listening to some music or reading a book. Never use a phone an hour before you sleep.
Psychological issues
It can also be observed that people suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) have far more negative thoughts than a person with no immensely traumatic events happening in their life. To cure this, experts recommend spending some time with your loved ones and with nature. This might help a person know themselves better and get out of those negative thoughts.
Other psychological aspects of negative thinking could be because of a mental illness such as personality disorder, panic disorder, and schizophrenia. To deal with these mental disorders it is best advised to meet a psychologist and get proper medication.
A lot of negative thoughts start with psychological issues like trust issues, overthinking, etc. We should also note that most of the conspiracy theories which are created by people on topics like government dealing with aliens, flat earth theory, etc. can be because people do not trust the scientists or the government with what they hear, which can also be a minute part of negative thinking.
Why you should stop hanging out with pessimistic people
It is also really hard to be around a pessimistic person as they can affect your thinking because it is easier for us to absorb negative thoughts, unlike the positive ones.
Not only this, but you must also avoid hanging out with people who are pessimistic as they can impact your thinking. You might start second-guessing your decisions, and having several pessimistic people around you signals your brain that it is normal. They are also very unlikely to inspire you to achieve your dreams. We must remember that we are in charge of ourselves, and the decisions we make will impact us as well as the people around us. When something happens, we get to choose if it is positive or negative. Hence we must always work on ourselves to see the good things in every situation.
Now that we have seen why it is terrible to have a negative attitude let’s see why we shouldn’t have a positive one.
