Stinkin' Thinkin'

Zig Ziglar coined negativity as stinkin’ thinkin’. He was so right. Negativity will bring you down. It impedes growth. It can ruin you.

I’ve learned that negative thinking has no place in my life if I want to succeed. Negativity is so draining. Sometimes I even start to feel sick when there’s too much of it around me.  

I used to ask myself, “Aren’t I allowed to wallow even just a little bit”? The simple answer is NO. This morning I read a section in Brian Tracy’s book “Goals”. He says that negativity is a result of a person not taking full responsibility for the results of her actions.

I watch people complain on Facebook. I wonder why they look to the Internet to dump their worries. Complaining gets words of encouragement.  It seems like everyone is trying to live in their own reality TV show.

I got onto Facebook to find out where all my old friends were and what the people I knew were up to.

I don’t write a lot of status updates because my life isn’t that interesting.  When things bother me, I tend to internalize them first.

Then I started blogging. I started to blog for three reasons:

1.       I have a goal to write a book.

2.       I was told to be a better writer, I needed to write every day.

3.       I learned that journaling was important for self improvement.

People started commenting on my writings. The personal experience of writing became less important than the feedback.

It is energizing to get words of encouragement. It is fulfilling to think I am helping. I opened my chest and bore it to the world.  And the feedback has been amazing.   Each time a comment comes through, I get an email. Just the fact of getting an email makes me feel special. The dopamine effect is very addictive.

I wrote a blog about boredom and my mom called me. As any good mom, she’s worried. That’s one of the reasons I love her, she cares about me.  The stinkin’ thinkin’ of my weekend de-motivated me. It caused conversations that didn’t need to happen. Why did I feel that way? It doesn’t matter. I have to take responsibility to pick myself up and get going again. And so I have, because I control my life. I am the only one responsible for the crappy way I feel. I may not be able to control actions of others, however I can control how I process the actions and how I react to them. 

Life is too great for negativity. Here's my new coping strategy. Next time I'm down I'm gonna go look at pictures of babies and puppies. If that doesn't change my mood, then nothing will.

Ta ta for now!