Quite often I am asked, how do I stay so positive? My first response might be I married a great
man, or I may say something like, I am blessed. But most of the time I respond with, I had to make a decision.
All of which are great quick answers because if we were to spend any amount of time together you would know that I have bad days like everyone else.
Sometimes these days linger more than I like to admit; over the years I have learned to implement positive activity to redirect the negativity. This notion guides me from entering a downward spiral.
I have three things that I do especially over the winter months that keep me upbeat. You may want to adopt them or come up with your own three.
The First Positive Activity
This first positive activity is exercise; you probably will not like hearing this because I struggled in the beginning, but what a game changer. Let me break this down, exercise meaning get moving, maybe that is a walk, yoga, an exercise video or going to the gym or swimming.Simply find something good for you that gets
your body moving. My form of exercise involves two things based
around weather.
On cold wet days I like
to do a 30 minute just walk video. On
warm days I like to move between 5- or 10-wheel barrow loads of dirt into my
garden. Someday I will have to share more about that.
Exercise can help your body and brain function better in addition to improving your blood circulation. I try to be physically active at least four to five days a week.
In conjunction with exercise, I do my best to eat healthier. But do not think that I skip a treat because I enjoy dessert once in a while. I have found smaller portions, better-quality food from the garden and protein is key. I love protein!
Second Positive Activity
My second positive activity is a combination of reading and writing, both activities help with positivity in many ways. I love to learn new things, so I am constantly buying books on multiple topics.I have mentioned before that I begin mornings with reading the bible. I am not telling you to follow my lead, but it is a great way to begin a day.
If you are
a reader perhaps locating something motivational would be a welcoming idea. Just go to a secondhand bookstore you will find multiple topics.
Reading helps improve the writing process; where this activity isn't for everyone, I enjoy using words for sharing my heart and gifts. As a writer my goal is to work towards improving and quite often this brings me back to reading.
This book, Writing Well by William Zinsser is fantastic; I revisit it often and you can get it free with a Kindle unlimited membership.
Most recently I took a course with Brenda Wyatt, A Beginner's Guide to Visual Marketing. I really have enjoyed her course because it helped strengthen my creative writing using visual tools. This has been a lot of fun and pushed me to open my heart and tune deeper into our natural environment.
If reading or writing isn’t your thing then perhaps watching a movie is a good replacement. I am a "Romcom" fan especially during the winter season and since the oldies are better than this new stuff, I refer to my home movie library.
A Few of My Favorites Include:
Third Positive Activity
This third positive activity is big, and you can look at it two ways, learn something new or find a hobby. Both sort of force you to take a look at what you enjoy doing. This could be anything; for me watercolor art is a hobby that originally fell into learning something new.I have a long history with creating art, but I took about a 30-year break. In 2019 I signed up for watercolor painting classes and fell in love with this medium. It also happens to be an incredibly hard one to learn but I chose it for multiple reasons.
So, if art is not your thing, then what is? I have multiple interests like gardening, cooking, organizing, floral arranging, photography, antiquing and I hope to make a quilt next winter.
Think about something you might have put aside and ask yourself what that would look like if you picked it back up. Do this by bringing that hobby into the present.
Presently this is less difficult now as an empty nester because I am not being pulled in multiple
directions. No matter what season of life you are in, I want to
encourage you to find the time to do at least one positive activity that will bring
you joy. Make a note when you will begin
and hold yourself accountable because nobody is going to do it for you.
The only person stopping you from being positive is you. Trust me, I know this because I have been there and only you can choose to find an activity that offers you a positive mindset towards goodness.
Be the Good,
Carole West
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