One of the best things I’ve learned along my journey to a positivity is the power of positivity lists – shocker. Sometimes telling yourself the things you’re looking forward to, or what you have to be grateful for just isn’t enough. Seeing them written down in front of you, as a visual reminder, makes staying positive a lot easier .
A few weeks ago a few of us were on the late shift in work, and our spirits were low. It was only a few weeks till Christmas and we were all getting a bit of cabin fever. I knew that there was no way I was going to make it through the shift, mentally and physically, without having a positive attitude. I scribbled down a few things that we all had to be happy about – that there were only a few weeks till Christmas, that it was coming to the end of the late shifts etc – and posted it up on our till. I immediately felt ten times better. In fact, when one of the girls I work with saw it, her eyes were filling up with tears. Sometimes we just need a reminder of what we have to be happy about. The positivity list went down really well with everyone, and while sometimes I fear that I’m coming across as a crazy positivity guru, I’m so happy that it made a difference to peoples’ days.
Now if I know that I’m going to struggle with keeping positive on a particular day, I’ll write my positivity list in advance so I can catch the negativity before it even begins. Sometimes I write them down on my phone before I go to sleep, so when my alarm goes off in the morning and my exhausted brain starts filling itself with negative thoughts, I can look straight at my positivity list. I even have a positivity list of things that I can be positive about stuck up on my wall in my study so I can see the reminder all the time.
Whether it be ‘1. I’m off for a few days, 2. I’m seeing my friends tomorrow, 3. I’m going to have tea in my favourite mug when I get home’, there’s always something big or small to be happy and positive about. If you’ve a roof over your head and have a few people around you that you love, then that’s already two things to add to your list. Even pick up a nice notebook (any excuse to buy a notebook) and have it as your positivity notebook, so you can look back on the really bad days and see everything you have to be happy about, even if some things are just memories.
Let me know in the comments what’s on your positivity list!