I've been through a lot of things in my life. I mean, I'm practically the star of the next Lifetime original movie, and I've miraculously "overcome the odds" and have "become such a talented young woman," but you don't know how many pizza bagels I can fit into my mouth at once. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that I've learned within my 16 years that it is pizza bagel-important to be positive. It isn't necessary to survive a bear attack to have a sunny-side up personality, but it really plays a key role in being well-liked (by yourself and those whom matter most to you), successful and confident. Cheesing when the camera flashes or throwing some self-deprecating shade by laughing at your own screw-ups is something that will bring a domino-effect of energy into your life.
There's this incredible quote by Jack Kerouac that always reaffirms my desire to be a glass-half-full individual. He wrote it in a letter to his wife, and this is just an excerpt of his words.
Everything is ecstasy inside. We just don't know it because of our thinking-minds. But in our true blissful essence of mind [it] is known that everything is alright forever and forever and forever.
My theory is that if you dig deeply enough into the recesses of your mind, you will discover that behind all the cynicism and carousel ride of decision-making, there is an unceasing calmness that waits for you to arrive. The first step to thinking positively is to invent positivity. It's like you not only have to finish a Sudoku puzzle or the TV Guide crossword to complete your maze, but you first have to draw it out in sheer oblivion.
It took me a while to reach this breakthrough, in fact. No matter how many young adult romance novels I read, cups of tea I burnt my tongue over or ballet flats I tried on, there was this seemingly bottomless abyss of negativity that surrounded my every move. It wasn't really sadness at all, but just a more shadowy version of myself. It wasn't a worse version or a less beautiful kind of life to live, but simply a different one that was rather stationary in comparison to my current mindset. There wasn't a monumental change that marked the Very Special Day I turned positive, like the day you lose your first tooth, or drive away to college. It was a simple decision that I wanted a different view. (Not the Whoopi Goldberg/Barbara Walters kind, though).
About a year ago, I would have considered myself very concerned about not wanting to be a stereotype. I was so against cliches and pompous ideas of twirling my hair and not speaking my mind. I wanted to be "not like other girls" and known for my Zooey Deschanel level of quirk. I now find those ideas extremely overrated and not at all realistic. We are all different human beings with sunshine flooding through the gaps in our eyelashes and the calories in our food. We have the ever-present capability to spread currents of warmth spreading through our society. That sounds like such an extreme belief, but I think we just must simply embrace it. We aren't meant to be outstandingly different and outlandishly praised for those differences.
I'm not really an advocate for altering the way you live to fit the standards of others, but I am definitely a defender of open-mindedness. This isn't a matter of drastic measure, but it is a matter of ripe thinking. Turn a page in the dictionary of your life and scribble some new words into your vocabulary that make people smile and pass on these sentiments like they're a contagious disease. Change the spread of infecting, back-stabbing morals into healing powers and good vibes.
It's so important to maintain a whole spectrum of emotions and to keep in tact the natural antagonism of life events, but instead of a bed of nails, we should really be catching one another on cotton candy clouds. Or at least gently-used Serta mattresses.
I recently watched a film on YouTube called Press Play, Imagine. Producer Dan Mace lays out a world in which the environment is not fueled only by our desires to improve individually, but to innovate and cultivate the world around us. The whole idea is that sole people must sprout about the ideas of positivity, acceptance and growth to plant a forest of greatness. The film lays out the groundwork for celebrated communities built entirely by affirmative, microscopic details that create a mosaic of undying nerve.
Not only is it important to motivate ourselves, but one another, in ways that have been seemingly unfathomable in the past. The simplicity of kind gestures and warm embraces can run the world almost as well as Beyoncé. You are in complete control of the world around you, and holding hands with those who stand next to you may not be the worst decision you've ever made. Paint white school walls into flourishing bursts of energy and support. Look at the moon each night like a naive little kid getting ready for a fantastical bedtime story, astonished by the fact that all of your neighbors, friends and pen pals will be able to see it, too. Know that strength doesn't come in numbers, but in noticing.
Many people find themselves stuck in a funk of attempting to be helpful and involved, when the solution is blurred in negativity. In my opinion, the solution is always pizza bagels. But, we all have our own Jack Kerouac-infused essence of mind.
Planting the seed for positivity is a compliment to this world. Yes, of course we marvel at the earth's beauty and donate to popular charities, but knowing when to spark peace is the most alluring form of flattery. The only thing left to do is sprout about it.