Some people don’t even know that they are negative.

Negativity becomes a lifestyle for a lot of people. Whether it be the way you were raised, or specific events in your life, or certain things that happen to you, negativity can become a very unhealthy way of life. It can well up inside of you and quickly become toxic and hold you back from living the life you want. If you’ve been feeling sorry for yourself and walking around in a funk, it’s time to snap out of it.

This is not only unhealthy mentally, but has physical consequences as well. Negativity and stress go hand-in-hand, and stress increases fatigue and cortisol levels which contributes to fat accumulation. Negative, tired, overweight….sound familiar?

Here are some things you can do if you feel like you may be a negative person:

1. Admit that you’re negative. It’s like a problem with addiction. You have to realize you have a problem to get help. Some negative people call themselves “realists”. Sometimes they just “vent” for hours on end, but don’t have a solution or move past it.
2. Negativity is a thought pattern. Sometimes neutral situations get turned into negative situations, and sometimes even positive situations get turned into negative situations. Often, negativity is an unconscious thought pattern that causes a physiological and psychological reaction that is out of the person’s control. It’s up to them to break that negative thought pattern.
3. To get a grip on your own negativity, learn to recognize negative thought patterns and behaviors in others. Once you see it in others, you’ll want to be less negative and stay away from it because negative behaviors are contagious. I try to avoid negative people and situations as much as possible. There’s often an underlying theme with negativity: unsuccessful, unhappy, and just straight up miserable.
4. Distance yourself from other negative people. If all you’re around is negativity, it’s really hard to be positive. Finding new people to hang around is sometimes very worth it. Find some positive people you can identify with and ask them for insight. Positive people love to help uplift others!
5. Don’t be hater.  It’s much more acceptable and popular to try and tear people down rather than to speak positively about them, but don’t do it.
6. When you’re in a negative situation, look for something good or helpful. Ask yourself what you can learn from this situation. What can you do to handle this better next time?
7. Replace negativity in your life. TV shows with sensitive, depressing topics that affect you (like make you overly sad, or not want to sleep at night), the news, or social media. You have control of what you listen to and watch.
8. Get some positive information flowing into your mind. Listen to a positive podcast, read a new blog post, or have an uplifting conversation with a positive friend.
9.  Reward yourself for a job well done. Negative people often punish themselves when they make mistakes. Reward yourself for your accomplishments. (just not with cake all day long!)
10. Negative people are quick to recognize and remind of failures and seldom recognize their achievements, or those in others. Even if you’re not where you want to be in life yet, it doesn’t mean you’re a failure. It simply means you’re not done. k
11. Increase your exposure to the Sunshine Vitamin. Get outdoors for 15 minutes a day, minimum. It really do
12. es help your mood improve.
13. Start exercising. It’s a great stress reliever. If you’re an avid exerciser and still negative, take a break.
14. Set goals and have a defined purpose. Why are you doing what you do everyday?

If you can’t stop negative thoughts from occurring yet, you can certainly do your best to prevent them from spiraling out of control where you’re completely obsessing about things.

Thanks for reading! If you found some value in this, please share and look for the other blogs in this series on my website, www.coachadrienne.com.