5 things that help me stay positive

If you’re a regular reader of mine then you’ll know how passionate I am about advocating positivity. I’m of the opinion that life is so much brighter when you choose to drop the bad vibes and start focusing on embracing the good. But I know that’s not always easy, believe me. But, as I sent off the final assignment of my first Open Uni module this week and was able to do things that didn’t consist of drowning in endless amounts of work, I started to think of some things that help me to stay positive when I’m feeling a bit stressed or down, the things that help to put the spring back into my step.

My family

My family is the most important thing to me. They’ve always got my back in every situation, especially if I’m finding something difficult or if I’m going through a tough time. I’m really lucky that we all try to make the other smile if we’re not feeling like our normal selves and we’ll always be there to support each other, something I would never take for granted.

My friends

Just like family, my friends are incredibly important to me. It’s fair to say that it’s been a bumpy road for me in terms of friendships over the years but I now feel really lucky to have such kind, caring, supportive and funny friends who always manage to pick me back up when I’m feeling down. They’re a wonderfully weird bunch of people who always manage to put a smile on my face and I can only hope that I do the same for them.

My blog

As cheesy as it may sound, my blog is now a really big part of who I am and what I do. I gain a lot of positivity through writing my posts, receiving supportive and encouraging feedback, reading other people’s posts and being a part of the blogging community. I often get carried away when writing a blog post, hence why most of them are over 1000 words long, but it’s a great distraction for me and something which I like to put all my effort into. I’ve gained so many amazing opportunities through it as well, some of which I still can’t believe happened or are happening soon – keep your eyes peeled!

Music

Listening to music is one of my favourite things to do in my free time, I also absolutely love going to concerts which you’ll know if you’ve read any of my concert experiences. There’s no better feeling to me than listening to my favourite artists sing live. I’ve been to three concerts this year and I walked away from every one feeling very happy and positive.

I often listen to my favourite playlists when I’m feeling slightly down or negative about something, listening to my favourite songs and having a good sing-along to some of them help to bring a little of my positivity back to the surface.

Putting things into perspective

Perspective can be a wonderful thing but it’s something that we might not always consider, I didn’t until recently. In the last few months, I’ve learned to take a step back and look at the bigger picture, it allows me to have a good think about what’s bringing negativity into my life and allows me to think of ways of changing that for the better. I find it all too easy to be hard on myself and I often turn into a ball of stress if I’m not reaching the best of my abilities or when things aren’t going exactly to plan but, although it’s a work in progress, gaining a little perspective on everything is something that is proving helpful.

Now, taking a deep breath after looking at the bigger picture allows me to realise that there is always something to learn and if things don’t work out the first time, it’s always possible to try again and to succeed even if hurdles do appear.

I’ve found quite a lot of things difficult this year and I still do but all of the above are things that help me to regain my positivity, things that help to put a smile back on my face.

I think that if some of the horrible events of the past few years have taught us one thing, it’s that life is too short to worry and focus on negative energy. Although these things come naturally to us sometimes, they are things that can be counteracted if we allow ourselves to make that happen. It can be hard to focus on the positives sometimes, especially if something significant is dragging you down, but we can all make positive changes to our own lives, sometimes even the smallest change can make the biggest difference.

What helps you to stay positive? Let me know as I’d love to hear from you.

Elin x