The Power of Positivity

Excuse me if I sound a little self-helpy, but I’m totally jumping on the positivity train and I’m taking you on the ride with me. I do posts from time to time with inspirational quotes, but this is different.

Last week was a little rough for me. It was hotter than hot. It was the first week of summer vacation. There was a lot of whining and what can I doooo-ing and planning for a birthday party. Nevermind the trying to move and bum ankle. It was a run-of-the-mill rough week. Nothing serious or worth really complaining about. Just an off week.

One night, after a particularly arduous day, I was having a hard time getting Ellie to sleep. We read a couple of stories, she tried her hardest to make me laugh, and then she started rolling all over me.

To help me laugh at myself and the situation (and to show my husband what I was dealing with), I started taking pictures of my little animal.

This was the only non-blurry shot I got. I was not particularly fond of it. I saw some sort of weird eye thing going on, what looks like a rat’s nest on top of my head and neck rolls. Still, I decided to throw it up on Instagram because it absolutely shows a slice of my real life and I like to try to keep it real instead of only showing the glossy bits.

My caption said nothing about how weird I felt I looked, instead it referred to how I made a better bed than the actual bed (that is what we call the art of distraction, people).

I was absolutely shocked when the first comment rolled in saying that I looked stunning. It was followed by a few more ladies (and one fella) agreeing and throwing more compliments my way.

And you know what? It felt freaking wonderful. There is really nothing like feeling particularly low and having people come out from nowhere and throw you up on their shoulders like you’re Super Woman.

It really made me think. Why don’t we do things like that more often? Why don’t we throw around compliments as much as we throw around negativity? There are so many people out there who troll the internet and social media waiting to pounce and spew negativity (Ewwwww, you’re so fat is one that is constantly thrown up on Lena Dunham’s Instagram photos). And why? What does calling someone fat or ugly do? Does it make you feel better about yourself? Nope. And if it does, it’s very brief and very unfulfilling.

But you know what does feel good? Making someone else feel good. It feels good to know you’ve made a positive impact on someone–even if it’s just telling an exhausted mom she’s beautiful or that she’s doing a good job.

That one little bit of positivity can change a person’s entire day. And it can inspire her to have a positive impact on someone else’s day.

Why can’t we do this more often? Why don’t we search out things to leave positive comments on? There’s nothing hard about it. But when you stop and think, how often do you bite back positive remarks? You sit and you admire how someone styled their hair on a particular day or how they’re dealing with their particularly nap-hungry child, but you don’t say anything.

And we should!

Can we promise to say something? To form a little club of positive influence that tries to do what we can to rise above the negativity? Just one little sentence. One little compliment every day. It costs you nothing. It isn’t difficult. What’s the excuse?

OK. This train ride has concluded. Please remember to grab your belongings and mind the gap. 😉

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Pinch of Positivity | Volume 4 Pinch of Positivity | Volume 6 Pinch of Positivity | Volume 7 Pinch of Positivity | Volume 8