When it's flu season, there are a few things you can do to avoid the contagion.

You get a flu shot. You wash your hands with soap and water. You drink lots of fluids. You avoid touching your mouth and nose. You stay away from other people who are sick, etc....

And if you do have the flu, you stay home, get rest, drink lots of fluids, and don't leave the house until you're better so that you don't spread it to anyone else.

Negative energy, like the flu, is contagious. However, one can't just apply hand sanitizer to rid themselves of the negativity they are exposed to. And, most of the time, someone who is drenched with negative energy can't just stay home on bed rest and avoid contact with everybody else. That's just not how life works.

So, these people who wake up in the morning and decide that they are going to be negative today get out of bed, go out into the world, and spread their germs...oh, sorry — I mean negativity — to everybody else. Instead of leaving germs on a door handle or filling the air with their germ-filled coughs and sneezes, they leave people with a bad taste in their mouth and fill the air with bad energy and bad vibes. And so, the illness spreads.

It only takes one rude person to ruin your day. It could be some guy who cut you off in traffic, the boss who decided to take his rough day out on you, or your friend who decided to make a sly comment because they were grumpy and overtired. It only takes one small thing to ruin your mood and, sometimes, to turn a good day into a bad one.

We've all experienced it. We all know how one person's attitude can affect ours, so tell me — why do we fail to realize that our own energy is contagious,that if we are miserable to others and rude because we feel like it, then people will be miserable and rude right back? I mean, what do we expect? People aren't going to accept our whining, complaining, mean comments, and bad attitude with a smile and a hug.

Maybe if everyone could stay home when they were feeling down, angry, upset, miserable, or just plain mean, negative energy wouldn't spread like the plague. But that's not how it works. So, we need to figure out how to either resolve our negative energy or at least contain it so that we aren't infecting everyone around us.

Trust me when I say that I get it; not every day is rainbows and sunshine. Sometimes legitimate things happen that get you down and sometimes you're just feeling down for no particular reason. It would be unrealistic to think that someone could have a good day every day.

It's not about having good days and being in a good mood 100 percent of the time; it's about being good to others 100 percent of the time.

You are not going to improve your own day or mood by spreading your negativity to everyone else. In fact, you'll only make things worse. It's the equivalent of leaving the house with the flu — just stay home; you're doing more harm than good by spreading your germs.

So, don't spread your negativity because the only thing worse than a Negative Nancy is a whole herd of them.

Learn how to control the way you treat people. Don't allow your inner negativity to affect the way people on the outside experience your presence. The last thing you want to be is that person who ruins someone's day. Remember the guy who cut you off, the mean boss, and the grumpy friend? Yeah, don't be that person.

Unfortunately for all of us, there is no vaccine for negativity. No soap and water that washes it away. And even more disappointing is the fact that some fluids and rest aren't enough to rid ourselves of our bad mood or the bad things that may happen to us that are out of our control.

I'm no doctor, but when it comes to negative energy, there is only one treatment plan I suggest...

Suck it up. Everybody gets down sometimes, but there's really no need to bring anyone else down with you. So, slap on a smile, say please and thank you, and cover your mouth when you cough/sneeze (because that's just the proper thing to do).

Negativity is the next epidemic. Do your best not to spread it.