Why You Should Stay Positve

6 Reasons to Stay Positve

How about staying positive? In this day and age I find that the majority of people are negative and tend to focus on the parts of their lives that are negative or that they can not change. With everyone being negative all the time, can you imagine all the negativity that we are spewing out into the atmosphere everyday? All that stress and negative thoughts that we are spreading to everyone around us? Now I am not a psychologist or counselor or anything along those lines, but I do have my own experiences that have forced me to think about positivity and negativity. And I have come to the conclusion that leading a life where you try to stay positive is more helpful and fulfilling than leading a negative life. I have come up with a quick list for reasons why I believe you should stay positive.

Here are five important reasons why you should stay positive:

1. Positivity and Negativity Affects Your Health

    Studies show that positive minds tend to lead healthier lives. Whether it’s because of stress levels or crazy hormones, optimists are more happy and healthy than pessimists. Also, according to some studies, being positive can also help you overcome some diseases and illnesses faster than people who are always negative. According to Psychcentral, a site run by a group of psychologists and psychiatrists, no one knows exactly why positivity helps people recover faster from surgeries or cope better with disease, but studies have shown that is just the case.

2. Stress Levels

    On the other hand, people who are negative tend to have higher stress levels and we’ve all heard what too much stress can do to our health. In general, stress is a good thing if you know how to manage it, but too much stress can push you over the top and you can end up hurting yourself, both in physical and mental health.

3. How You Feel

    Positive minds see the world a little brighter than others, making those people feel better about life in general. Wouldn’t you just want to see the world in bring colors instead of gloomy days?

4. Problem Management

    When you feel good about the world, you are able to tackle your problems with an open mind and are able to feel positive about the outcome of your efforts. Even if they don't work, you are able to try, try, again.

5. Relationships

    Whatever attitude we put on does not only just affect us, it affects the people around us. So, if you’re positive you send out rays of sunshine all around you, affecting the people near or close to you. I don’t think anyone wants to hurt the people close to them, but sometimes we do not even noticing it. When we have a negative mindset, little things start to bother us about others and we are more likely to start arguments that strain our relationships. But when you’re positive, you are able to look past people’s faults that annoy you, helping you create and maintain better relationships.  

6. Self Image

    Lastly, is self image. When we have negative attitudes it seems impossible to think of anything positive about anything, including ourselves. The first target of negative thoughts seem to be directed to our own faults and instead of trying to fix them, we go down a spiral and can only think of how terrible we are. Self image is very important and it is always the first thing to go out the window. With low self-esteem comes many more problems. But these problems don’t have to become a reality if you try to keep positive. With positive minds we are able to find our faults and of think of different ways to fix them, instead of dwelling on them too long.We are able to trust ourselves and our decisions and hold ourselves as valuable people.

Now I understand it is very difficult to stay positive, and I totally agree. We all have those days, weeks, and sometimes even months or years where nothing goes our way. But here are some quick links that I think help and give good ideas on how to stay positive, even in the toughest of times.

http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-power-of-positive-thinking/000227

http://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbradberry/2013/08/08/518/

I hope this post helps and convinces you to lead a life where you try to stay as positive as you can!

Pictures:

http://holisticallyfit.com/2013/09/23/weekly-challenge-stay-positive/ 

http://weheartit.com/entry/group/28910752 

http://www.eng.morgan.edu/~mahmud/learning/stress.htm 

https://thepracticalpriestess.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/what-a-wonderful-world/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20130409115905-284615-how-to-build-lasting-business-relationships 

http://examinedexistence.com/how-to-get-rid-of-negative-self-talk/ 

The Nerdy Girl

https://www.etsy.com/market/nerdy_geekery

So, I finally Googled myself! It felt kinda weird, especially since when I first just typed in my name all that came up was some famous Indian or Pakistani actress or model. That’s definitely not me I thought. Google even though I spelled my name wrong it is was supposed to be Mehwish Fatima. I had to scroll through three pages till anything about me actually came up. My name on the Augustana’s Dean’s List. Well that’s depressing. It’s like I’m not even important enough to exist online.

Suddenly I thought came to me! What if I typed in Moline next to my name, surely there will be something about me connected to the city I’ve grown up in. I typed it in and hit search. And to my surprise, I was the top hit! My name came up under Moline High School’s Honors Roll, Moline’s National Honors Society, Moline’s Junior Rotarians, Augie’s Dean’s List (again), and even my middle school’s honors roll. Looking at the results that came up from my search I decided to look at it from a stranger’s point of view, like a future employer. Since I’m not all that into social media and stuff, there are no pictures of me (expect for one from an article about Junior Rotarians), no tweets, or Facebook posts, basically nothing that about who I am or who I want people to see me as. Everything about me online adds up to me being a pretty much boring nerdy girl. There’s nothing about the fun-loving girl who loves to go traveling, shopping, reading, watching TV shows and movies, and having a great time with family and friends. Because of the lack of social media on my part, I have no say in what people see me as.  

If I was a future employer looking me up, I would be somewhat pleased with the results of a hard working studious girl. But I might be a little weary since there’s nothing out there that shows I can connect to people and am social. If a was a fellow classmate or coworker I would definitely be quick to judge me as the shy nerdy girl. I find this really disturbing. I don’t want people to see me as just the shy nerdy girl (which I admit is a big part of who I am). There’s so much about me that people would just not know if they relied on my E-dentity. It scares me to think, what if in the end our E-dentities are all that people look at? Will I only be the nerdy girl in everyone’s eyes? Or, will someone take enough time to actually get to know me? I don’t know the answer to my questions but I’m going to choose to be optimistic and cling to the idea that my E-dentity doesn’t have to be my Identity.

Oppression: Forever and Always

Vampires, werewolves, witches, hybrids, and...New Orleans? For anyone addicted to CW’s show The Originals (a fan demanded spinoff of the hit show The Vampire Diaries), like me, hearing all those supernatural creatures in one sentence causes major stress. This new but exciting and hot show focuses on the original family of vampires and their struggle to take back what once was theirs and keep their family together. With a thousand years behind them, the originals have many problems, enemies, and friends to keep up with, not to mention their own family members that after so long can’t stand each other anymore, but still want to hold on to their family bond. How could a show about the supernatural be oppressive? Here’s some thoughts:

1. Exploitation: In the city of New Orleans, power means everything. If the vampires are in charge of the Quarter (the part of the city where all supernatural beings are able to live without bothering the unaware humans next door), then the witches and werewolves are under their control and do whatever the vampires ask. In the beginning of the show, Marcel (the vampire king of the Quarter) terrorizes the witches to not practice magic and live to serve the wants of the vampires. They are not allowed to do anything witchy unless Marcel allows it. And the consequences of breaking the rules are extremely harsh and most likely lead to death. While watching this show, tyranny becomes very apparent and somewhat promoted. Whoever holds the power calls the shots. In a sense, this show seems to be teaching viewers that if one has power or status it’s okay to use it to exploit the people below you.
2. Marginalization: Throughout the show, the role of women is tricky to pinpoint. While there are very strong female leads and a lot of girl power, there are some parts where women are looked down upon. For example take the role of the witches. In the show, the witches are the bad guys (or girls in this case). They are the enemy plotting against everyone. But, every time they come up with a plan, it doesn’t always work and the witches become dependent on another character or characters (usually a male) to help them out. Like the whole plan to use Klaus( the original hybrid, a werewolf plus vampire) as their protector against the ruling vampire Marcel and his whole vampire gang. The witches are dependent on Klaus’s protection, even though they have to blackmail him to help them. Though witches are the oldest and most powerful supernatural beings in history, they are not seen as a threat to the vampires in control and are living on the protection of an untrusted character. The witches are seen as no threat and not important. Even though witches and vampires aren’t real, if you take the message from the role of the witches and apply to today’s real world, there are many similarities. For example, is it really a coincidence that there are no warlocks in the show while the witches have no power? Maybe, or maybe not? But one could see how many people may take the witches having no power and being dependent as a way to marginalize women.  
3. Cultural Imperialism: While many people take one look at a T.V. show about supernatural beings and dismiss it as a waste of time, many others live off the creativity and imagination of such unreal beings. And as one can notice by looking at the popular movies and books of this time, supernatural themes are rising in popularity. So, it might be important to pay attention to what kind of ideas and standards these characters are promoting. Take the use of violence. In all supernatural media the use of supernatural strength it very prevalent and The Originals is no exception. The blood and gore in this show is unfathomable. But viewers find themselves getting used seeing snapping necks and ripping hearts out of chests and soon it doesn’t bother them as much. How is it socially acceptable to get people so used to such terrible violence that it soon provokes no negative reactions. Becoming so desensitized to violence may be why we as people today are able to detach ourselves from the horrible violence going around the world to a point where we don’t even talk about it anymore.

Overall, though The Originals, by far is one of my favorite shows to watch and does have a lot of thought provoking moments about the importance of family, the show also seems to contribute to a new kind of oppression. A kind of oppression that seems to show how oppression in never ending and is always here. Forever and always.
Picture: http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/the-originals/images/36025099/title/originals-wallpaper