How Positivity Helps Us in Difficult Circumstances

We all know that being positive is a starting point from which to live our lives. It’s so much easier to live life with a smile on your face and feeling good about those around you than when you’re carrying resentment or pessimism with you.

How Positivity Helps Us in Difficult Circumstances

There also seems to be an unwritten rule of the universe that a positive attitude reaps rewards. People enjoy spending time with someone who is positive and that in turn means that life is good for the positive individuals amongst us. 

Sometimes the same circumstances can affect two people in completely different ways. This can simply be due to the fact that one of them lives a life full of positivity and optimism, while the other adopts a glass half-empty approach.

Of course, it’s always easy to be positive when things are going well. For example, if you’re in a secure job that you enjoy and you get paid enough for, and you’re in a loving relationship, the chances are that you’re going to feel good about life.

It’s harder to be positive when things are going wrong, and there are certain times in life when having a positive approach is worth its weight in gold.

A life changing event

We all face life-changing events at some point. Some of them may be wholly positive – such as our wedding day or the birth of a longed-for child. At these times, there’s no need to seek out positivity as the events themselves conjure up feelings of joy. But not all life-changing events are welcome ones. For example, it’s inevitable that you will have to deal with the loss of loved ones at some point.

The death of a loved one is always hard to cope with. There are many emotions that you will go through when grieving for someone and those emotions can be a rollercoaster ride as you boomerang from deep sadness and shock at someone’s passing to feeling angry or depressed about it. 

It’s common to feel guilty about someone’s death or the fact that you didn’t spend as much time with them that you could have before they died. These are all natural emotions to feel following the death of a loved one, and it’s really important that you reach out to your support network during these sad times.

Having a positive approach can really help see you through these difficult times and that means taking action to deal with the grief that you feel and working your way through a grieving process. For some people, after the initial shock has passed, this might involve planning a special day to celebrate your loved one’s life. 

For others, grieving is something that they want to do in private and it’s sometimes easier to seek the anonymous support of a professional and getting some bereavement counseling rather than talking things over with friends and family. The most important thing is to explore the feelings you’re having, rather than bottling them up inside. 

Dealing with criticism

Often, when you’re criticized by someone else, it can feel demoralizing. Although it may have been meant to motivate you in a work context, criticism can have the opposite effect. But it all depends on how you handle the criticism. If you approach criticism with positivity, you can use it to develop and grow. 

If someone says you haven’t put enough work into a project, don’t just throw your hands up and think ‘not fair’. Reflect on the comments they’ve made and be honest with yourself. Could you have put more work into the project? Did you give it your all? 

There will be occasions when criticism is unjustified, but often there will be a good reason for it. Take away any positive messages you can from being criticized rather than taking offense and you’ll benefit in the long run.

None of us ever know what life has in store for us and what we might have to deal with. But there is really no reason why we shouldn’t take the most positive approach to life that we can. 

Even when things aren’t going well, you only have to watch the news to remind you that many other people in the world are dealing with much bigger issues than we are. It’s down to us as individuals to get the most we can out of life and that’s where positivity can make a huge difference.