10 Ways to be Positive and be Hopeful in Negative Situations
We all know that life is hard and sometimes negative, we all know that life is unfair and sometimes even downright cruel. If you have survived for as long as you have till now, have your heads up for you are doing great. We understand that it is hard to have hope and be positive sometimes in life and it is in these negative days that we lose all hope and feel worthless. Many people have said this before and we are not the first one to say that regardless of what issues you have right now, there will always be a better and positive day.
We know it is easier said than done but at least we can have hope right? After all, as long as one has hope for a better future, that person can survive through anything regardless of how negative their situation is. This is what we are going to talk about today. We are going to give you some simple but useful tips on how to have hope in the darkest of times and be positive in those negative situations.
1. Find the positive things in Negative situations
There is a popular and somewhat abused but misunderstood phrase called “method in the madness”. What many people understand from this is that in some situations, some people may behave recklessly but that is planned recklessness. What this phrase really means is that regardless of how chaotic, negative, and insane a situation looks, there is a method to understand it and gain benefits from it. There is always something to gain from the most terrible of situations.
For example, the world wars made the industrial revolution flourish, the plagues of the olden days gave us medicine and vaccinations and even the global extension phase of the ice age made us humans evolve. There are positive things to gain in every negative situation. We do however admit that the gains will not be immediate, there will be some gains regardless of how bad the situation is and the funny thing is, people learn from their hardships and the wisest people with the most knowledge are those who have been through the worst situations.
2 Avoid Negative Situations and Solve Them Before it Goes Out of Hand
This may seem contrary to what we just said earlier and it is to some extent but not really at the same time. What we said earlier was what to do when you are already in a bad situation. Now why be in a bad situation when you can avoid it in the first place? Seeing a positive way and hope through desperation is fine and all but if you can avoid it then you will never have to face the negative situations in the first place.
While this is being said, we cannot always avoid them but we can always avoid and solve them midway. This by far does mean ignoring them but instead means doing what you can to fix the troubles and situations before they escalate any further. Avoid falling into the negative situations if you can and if you do fall into such situations, solve them, and avoid creating more issues.
3. Break Down The Problems into Smaller Parts
We all panic when we fall into a bad situation and want to get rid of it as soon as we can. While wanting to get out of the bad situation is a good thing panicking is not. When we panic, we tend to miss out on the details which can affect our overall problem-solving capability and make the situation worse than it already is. Take things slowly and see if you try to break down the issue into pieces. When you break down the negative issues in parts, it will give you hope and lessen the stress.
In times of stress, hope and calmness are the two most important things that you can have. So when you do this, not only will you be calm but also won’t feel as hopeless as before. The psychological concept is that when you break down the bigger problem into smaller parts, your brain takes one small part positively and as an individual problem when compared to one big problem. Once it is solved, you will feel a small relief and in times of stress and negativity, these small reliefs provide you with a lot of positivity.
4. Ignore Negative People and Seek Positive People
Regardless of whether or not you like to admit this or not, we all have negative people in our lives. In some cases, we are the negative person but assuming that we are not, we have to avoid those people if we want to be positive in negative situations. When we are in such situations, we feel down, and having people who don’t support us and talk negatively will only make us feel more hopeless. Instead, find some people who give you positive vibes and stick with them. We do admit that sometimes these negative people are our closest people but we have to let go of them or our life will always be in a mess.
It is also understood that sometimes we cannot avoid the negative ones and find positive ones. In such cases, we can simply ignore them. Treat them like flies for the time being and ignore whatever they say. It is however necessary to distinguish between realistic and negative people as sometimes when we become too hopeful we become delusional and unrealistic which does not help our negative situation.
5. Take a Breather and Time to Refocus
It is a natural response to go full force when we are in a bad situation and forget to take a breather. Not only is this bad but also exhausting and if we do this, this will exhaust us sooner or later. Once this happens, we feel hopeless as we won’t have any more energy to fight on. So when times get hard, battle it but take breathers one in a while.
This not only revitalizes our mind but also helps us to focus better. The better we are able to focus, the easier we will be able to get out of negative situations, and the sooner we can see that we can do that the greater our hope and positivity. This soon becomes a positive cycle as once we have hope and positivity, we will be able to focus better, analyze better, and know when to take breathers.
6. Don’t let the fear of uncertainty stop you
Humans are afraid of the unknown and uncertain things and love certain and positive things. We are beings who like to know where we are and where we will end up but when things are uncertain about where we will end up, we become afraid. This again is a natural human response and when we are in a bad situation it is a given that we are uncertain about where we will end up. You can’t let this stop you from moving forward as the future is in fact uncertain which means that it can be both good and bad.
When we are in a bad and negative situation, we only tend to see bad things but as things are after all uncertain why stop and lose hope. Who knows things may be better than you expect it to be and we know that sometimes things are better than we expect. Once you have this in your mind, you will see things in a bit more optimistic way and be a bit more hopeful and if not much, just a bit more positive.
7. Add Some Cuteness to Drive Away Negativity
Sometimes little things do great things and this is just one of those things. Who does not love cute things? We all do and regardless of how dark you are, you can’t help but just aww at cute things. Looking at cute things drives away our sadness and makes us feel good. This is the reason why cat and dog videos rule the internet. They are cute and do dumb things that make us smile. Although it is a short-term relief, when we are in a negative situation, even the smallest things matter and even the smallest relief gives us positive energy.
The good thing is that there is no lack of cute things and they exist everywhere. If you are an animal lover then there are cats and hamsters, if you are a human lover then there are children doing dumb things, if you are goth then there are cute goth monsters and if you are a weeb then there are more anime. The point is, watching cute things gives us relief and although that is a short term relief, there is no lack of those short term relief to make our mood bright and positive.
8. Exercise
This probably is one of the most generic things that people say when you tell them that you feel negative. Most people don’t even know why they say this and just parrot this. If you are wondering the reason then it is because exercising releases the feel-good hormones in our body. When we exercise our whole body tenses up and we feel a bit of pressure on our muscles and body and once we are done with the exercise, the whole body relaxes as the pressure lessens.
When this happens hormones like endorphin and serotonin along with adrenaline are released. Endorphin is a pain killer and serotonin is a happy hormone that is released when we feel positive and happy. Although temporary, this clears our mind of worries and makes us feel pleasure for a short duration. As we have already mentioned, when in times of stress, even the shortest clarity and relief means a lot. You do have to be careful as if you exercise too much you may become more or less addicted to this and ignore the issue which as we have already stated is not good for us. Too many positive things can sometimes be bad for us as well.
9. Vent Out
When you are in the darkness sometimes just having someone to listen to you is just what you need to give you hope. At times we often become hopeless because we feel like we are misunderstood or when we feel like we have no one. This is often what happens when we suffocate too much of our emotions and problems within ourselves. So when you are in a dark and negative situation, find someone to just vent out and listen to your rants.
Regardless of whether or not they have solutions or not just having someone to listen to makes us feel better. Be careful though as not all people have the best intentions for you. If you don’t have anyone whom you trust then you can simply vent out in a diary. This simple act can give us hope and positive energy in the worst of our situations.
10. Take Criticism Constructively
It is said that when we are down, people kick us down and this is not necessarily false as there will always be people who kick us down when we are at our low stage. But the good thing about them is that they criticize us and point out our flaws and help us to do better in a positive way. Of course, there will be people who say bullshit but you can just treat them like flies and ignore them. Among these people, there will be people who comment and criticize your work and point out your negative side, and this a good thing.
Once you think about them then you will come to realize that some of them are in fact not nonsense and are helpful. Once you do this you will feel the drive to remove these flaws and make those who gave these criticisms stumped. For this, you will have to take a breather and refocus but this is all worth it as once you see what you have to do through the criticisms, you will feel a positive drive within you in your dark times.
In case you have no one to vent out to, you can always write to feel positive and better so if you are curious about why writing is helpful for us you can check out “Why Writing Is Important” and along with this, check out the article on “How to spot fake news?” so that you can stay away from the negativity?
