Don’t Be A Debbie Downer

Simply stated, negativity is easy and positivity is hard.

You might be questioning why I think positivity is hard because who doesn’t like to smile from ear to ear and have happy endorphins running through their body making them jump for joy. I mean who wouldn’t want to walk around like they’re jumping on clouds and staring at pretty rainbows all day, but the reality is being negative seems to come natural to most.

I don’t want to be the Debbie Downer in this situation, but I am. I’ve come to realize it takes much more effort to be positive.

For example, put yourself in Debbie’s shoes.

Debbie walks into a room where her friend turns to her and starts complaining about how their mutual friend has been slacking and she begins to rant about anything and everything. Debbie can either make the decision to:

a.) Divert the conversation

b.) Counteract everything her friends says with something positive

c.) Dig up any negative thing she can think up and start complaining to go along with her friend

In most cases, Debbie chooses to go along with her friend, starts complaining and reinforces her friend’s negativity.

The problem I see with this is when people choose to reinforce other's negativity it magnifies that negativity, which becomes a vicious circle that is carried from one situation to the next. To break that cycle, Debbie should have told her friend something positive and that would have stifled the negative actions and reactions that can be caused from spreading those emotions around.

So, when someone starts complaining and being negative in front of you, throw them for a loop and counteract their negativity with something positive, you may just be surprised how much better you feel.