As my mom’s old Soap Opera used to say...

…“you only have one life to live”...

Generic, huh? I agree, but let me explain how this generic phrase is overlooked by all of us.

Any of my friends can tell you that I used to be a constantly negative person. Very cheery on the outside but a basket case inside, whichM I’m sure some of you can relate. For me, it took until a great friend delivered a message to me. This was the first time I truly took a breath, stepped back and evaluated the way I was living my one and only life. If I could hug that man one more time I would because even now, I find myself replaying those words in my head.

Which is why I wanted to write this article because no matter what kind of negativity runs through your mind, only YOU can change it. It takes nothing but the positive energy you have stowed away inside to change your outlook on life. Now I know we all get into funks sometimes but you know the difference of being in a funk and just being a negative Nancy. I understand bad things happen. Life gets stressful, believe me; we've all got something going on but there is always something good in every single day. That’s what needs to be dwelled on rather than dragging the negativity to the next day. I can’t tell you how many times I hear that the environment makes someone’s life so bad or one bad thing happens and life is over. Believe me, I understand life gets very hard, but I can’t say anything other than every situation is how you personally deal with it. If the first thing you do when you wake up is think about how much life sucks, how that guy viewed your story but didn’t text back, or just how unhappy you are, then you are already setting a brand new day up for failure.

It literally is the simplest act of wanting to live a happy life and figuring out what works best for you. For me, I’d say there are three things that have helped me the most when it came to turning my negative life into a more positive one…

Motivational Quotes/Pictures

If you’ve never been inside my bathroom, I have motivational pictures and quotes all over my mirror. From letters people wrote me, cute little activities from my chapter, and simple print outs from Google, I do this because I see them every morning and multiple times throughout the day and right there I am reminded of positivity. How can you think negative with positive reinforcements all around you? Think about it!

Eating Healthier And Exercising Regularly

These were a biggy for me because it was just so much easier going to McDonalds instead of cooking a healthy meal after a long day. I barely eat fast food anymore, and I say barely because yes sometimes it is okay to go out. The key is being hesitant on what you’re putting inside your body. Eating like crap is only going to make you feel like crap, plain and simple.

Exercising is just as important. Our body truly is our temple and along with eating healthy, we need to be physically healthy as well. Now I don’t mean go to the gym every single day. Just be mindful on how you are treating your body because your body needs you to take care of it. I’m to the point now where I feel worse about not giving my body exercise, whereas before, complaining I was too tired for the gym. Now it doesn’t have to just be the gym, you find out what works for you. Yoga is a very beautiful way to not only exercise your body but help you become aware of your inner beauty as well.

Having A Positive Attitude

We've been told this our whole lives, right? To have a positive attitude? I know many instances where people go into situations with a negative outlook expecting a positive outcome. Humor me for a minute: if you have to do something that isn’t exactly your favorite thing to do, thinking about how much it isn’t your favorite thing to do is going to make it even worse. So with that, the reality of it all is changing your mindset and openly admitting to yourself when you are being negative and learning how to turn the negativity around. As simple as that sounds, this is the hardest for many of us. We are quicker to make up excuses for our lack of happiness rather than experimenting different ways that have proven to promote positivity. Now maybe you think all of this is silly, but if that’s the case, I’m curious about why you continued reading after reading the title...

So basically, what I’m telling you here is, you can read all of the articles you want, you can talk to as many people as you want, but you won’t start living positively and seeing the beauty of life, until you make the conscious decision to be happy and not let anything steal that happiness away. I'm not saying there won’t be bad days or unfortunate moments, because there will, but with a positive mind, you’ll be able to suppress the hurt and stress and find the happiness in that day. Even if that means admitting to your faults or sitting down and creating personal goals, it all starts with you.

Be cliché and remember that you truly do only have one life to live, so spend it living it with happiness and a positive outlook. Anything other than a positive outlook is only going to keep you where you’re at right now and if you made it to the end of this article, then you and I both know it’s time to take your first step because you deserve it!