I often say positivity is more than a feel-good Pollyanna concept.  It is a principle of success.  “Why?” You ask.  Any success journey involves challenges that are unforeseen.  Oftentimes, there are more reasons not to do something than there are to do it.  There are many reasons not to get married, bring children into this world, or even start a business.  You can get in a car accident.  You can wait in line at a nice restaurant.  You can even have beer spilled on you at a sporting event.

Everything great in life involves unbelievable challenges.  These challenges can make you a negative person.  The opposite of negativity is not apathy.  It’s positivity.  Human beings are wired for the negative and this wiring is not always suited for twenty-first-century first-world life.  It’s meant for not being someone’s lunch.  The brain does not do a good job of differentiating between a hungry bear and a negative comment on social media.  Thus, we have to make a conscious effort not to default to the negative.

Don’t Start With Negative

Have you ever called somebody and the first thing out of their mouth is something negative?  Or, have you ever known somebody who is outraged over something that did not affect their life?  When you are negative it affects your approach to life.  It affects your reputation.  It affects the opportunities that you have.  Most of all, it affects the quality of life.

This is doubly important in this day and age when we can either express ourselves in a text or post something on social media.  Before we could text, if we were cut off on the freeway we could not instantly text our loved ones.  Before social media, we could not post something to go out on multiple channels.  Nowadays, we can have anything validated.  Any conspiracy theory or any feeling can be validated. This makes it possible just to create your own version of reality.

When I started writing in the late 1990s, or early 2000s, I felt that I had to describe any emotion that I had and any frustration I had had to be aired, but now I realize that I only needed to describe negative experiences to prove a point.

Not All Complaining Is Bad 

We all need to vent.  I believe that venting is a healthy and necessary exercise.  We don’t want to bottle up negative emotions.  If we do so, they can come out at the most inopportune time.  When we vent, it should be with a small circle of confidantes and sandwiched between positivity.  Even better, try to share your complaint or vent in a humorous manner.  After all, laughter is good for the body and mind.

Complaining is going to happen.  It’s natural and done right healthy, but learning to do so in a way that is not destructive is key to surviving life’s challenges.