Every day you should have one goal in mind – getting through to the end of it. How you look at this depends on your attitude. Happy people don’t often think about the day as slogging along unless it’s simply one of the few bad days they experience. Negative, unhappy people, however, often think about how they just wish, wish, wish this day would be over. They count the minutes down as they watch their phone or computer clock, ready to go home…only to start it all over again tomorrow.
Being realistic, we all have days like this. The problem is they shouldn’t be a pattern. Some situations are unavoidable – like you don’t like your job or something serious is going on in your life that is making you see the world negatively. For other people this kind of negativity is close to ingrained. No matter what, they’re stressed and ready to continue the cycle until it finally stops somehow or they die.
More often than not, you aren’t just born a Negative Nancy or Norman. Habits that you’ve become blind to perpetuate this cycle of stress and gloom, and you’re so used to these feeling that they repeat over and over and you feel powerless to stop them.
See if you’re guilty of any of these bad habits. They may be the culprit to your constant unhappiness.
Deadline Stress
Deadlines are a part of life. Are you a kid? There are papers to write and homework due in school. A stay at home parent? You’ve got to pay the bills on time and make sure the house runs like clockwork. An entrepreneur or business professional? There’s always a meeting to attend or an email to send. No matter how old you are or your position in life, there is always something to do and a set period of time to do it in.
The problem is actually how we react to this stress and if we over-manage it. First, a deadline can sometimes be almost impossible to meet – but not all the time. However, many people instantly begin to panic when deadlines are mentioned. Second, some people like to overstuff their schedules with deadlines. While this is a good tip for being organized, setting up a set time frame for when you need to eat lunch and bathe the dog doesn’t actually help your brain de-stress.
Thinking About the Past/Future
Let’s keep this simple – the past has already happened and the future hasn’t happened yet. Don’t be irresponsible and refuse to learn from mistakes or plan ahead, but consistently worrying about things that may happen or that already have isn’t conducive to happiness.
Examine how much you think about the past and the present. Healthy people don’t let the past or future consume them – and happy people don’t either.
Comparing and Contrasting
It’s human to want to be better, stronger, faster, smarter, prettier, thinner, funnier – but is it actually good for you? Because it’s human nature many people don’t realize just how hard they try to emulate or be better than someone else.
This doesn’t take into account the unique experiences we all go through that make us who we are. People can motivate us, but at the end of the day we have to be able to motivate ourselves without obsessing over our faults and how they stack up to the positives we find in others.
