All too often we find ourselves falling into the trap of negativity. The sun isn’t shining, we spilled coffee on our jeans, and nothing seems to be going right. At least that is what we tell ourselves.
The truth—there is always something to be grateful for, no matter how bad our circumstances. Eventually, we turn the corner to a better mood and leave our negativity behind.
Finally we start to smile and enjoy the little things in life. We see progress with our last flair up, and we become grateful for the support we receive from our friends and family. Than we run into our negative friend, let’s call her “negative Nancy”.
Nancy is not such a smiley person. She is always complaining, and even on the brightest of days she can only show a very slight grin. The worst part is that Nancy feeds off of getting other people upset about the stupidest things. The movie you wanted to see is sold out? She gets you fired up. Your coffee was served to hot? She has something to say about it.
We all have had a friend like Nancy, but is it really worth it?
I decided a long time ago that I need to remove “Negative Nancys” from my life. By having “Negative Nancys” in my life, I could not find the sunny side up of an egg. I felt like my life was hard boiled. Every conversation with Nancy just made me feel down. Than I was diagnosed with chronic illness. It all changed.
What I have realized is that with stress, comes more flair ups. Time and time again, when stress builds up I start to get less sleep, and eventually flare up.
Without Nancy in my life, I am able to reduce stress and start smiling again. It is just not worth it to keep her around.
The hardest part? Sometimes Nancy is the only support we have for our chronic illness. As tough as it might be, we have to let Nancy go. We have to start to find other ways to find support, and start to bring happiness into our life. Join a group in person or online and start to attend live events if you are able. Find other friends to hang around. If you don’t, Nancy might just be the contributing factor to your illness getting worse.
What tips do you have for removing negative people from your life?
Dave
