Bad Day or Bad Life: How to Stop Allowing Negativity to Alter Your Perspective

A few years ago, an article was published citing all of the ways that negativity can affect one’s health. According to it, negativity can drain your energy, damage your respiratory system, affect your productivity and cause your stress levels to rise to the point of giving you high blood pressure (if not worse).

If that’s not reason enough to be conscious about the amount of negativity that you allow into your life, we’re not sure what is! The news, social media, your office environment---sometimes even your family members and friends can all give you reason to see things in a negative light. But for the sake of your physical and emotional health, it’s important that you do all that you can to stay positive; to see the silver linings in things.

It’s the difference between having a few things go wrong and see it as having a bad day or processing it as having a bad life. Life is too short to live in the head space of the latter.

1. Eat energy-boosting foods

You are what you eat. If you want to feel more positive, you’re going to need more energy. There are several foods that can help you out with that. Salmon, Greek yogurt, dark chocolate, whole grains and even popcorn (because of the carbs in it) can give you some extra fuel. Don’t forget to drink a couple of glasses of water too. The less toxins that are in your system, they less sluggish you will feel.

2. Listen to happy music

Music is powerful. So much that it can change our mood from happy to sad (and vice versa) in moments. There was a study conducted that indicated our moods change based on the genre of music we’re listening to. If you feel anxious, turn on the blues. For a burst of energy, turn on rock music. Reggae calms down anger, pop is great for working out, classical calms you down and dance music makes you feel happy. All good to know based on how you’re feeling at any given point and time.

3. Avoid negative conversations

The next time you’re around someone who is complaining, upset or gossiping, pay attention to how you start to feel. You might find yourself using words like “heavy”, “irritated” and “on edge”. Being around negative people can affect your blood pressure and cause your stress levels to rise. No one is worth your health. Not all conversations are going to be pleasant, but they should be working towards a solution at some point. If you sense that all that’s going on is negativity, redirect the focus or remove yourself. For the sake of your mind, body and your spirit.

4. Net surf later

One benefit of smartphones is you are always connected. That’s the downfall of them too. Being able to constantly access the news, celebrity gossip and what people are saying and doing on social media accounts can overwhelm you, and also make you feel drained and negative. Someone once said that people check their phones an average of every six-and-a-half minutes. That’s not good. Designate times in the day when you’re doing to check emails, Twitter and Instagram. The rest of the time, set your phone to vibrate. Then, when all of the news notifications come through, you won’t get caught up in all of the negativity.

5. Do something you enjoy after work

Sometimes, no matter what you do, there are going to be days when you can’t wait to get home. But if you put forth the effort to see silver linings and not give into all of the negativity, reward yourself. Do something you enjoy. It can be taking in a movie, stopping by your favorite smoothie shop or even just sitting on your back porch with a magazine as the sunsets. Life is too precious to see it as being “bad”. When you’re having a bad day, keep it all in perspective. And try to stay as positive as you can.