If you’ve ever wondered how to nourish negativity like your favorite houseplant, well, here you go! Follow these steps to ensure days laden with negativity! Wooo!

1)  Comparing Yourself to Others 

Comparing yourself to others will rarely lead you to an idyllic place. Either it will send you into a pit of despair wondering why a specific person seems to have it so much better than you, or it will lead you to think that you are better than someone else. Neither of these is true. Everyone is traveling down their unique path.

Everyone also has their struggles.

Comparing yourself to someone else is such a disservice to all the distinctive people, places, and things that have painted the portrait of your life.

Each person is beautiful and special in their own way. Claim your beauty and individuality to the fullest extent. You get limited rotations around the sun. Rock the hell out of your runway!

2) Envy

Jealousy is an ugly green monster. It’s quite an uncomfortable feeling, am I right? Time and time again, you will find yourself staring down this repulsive green monster. It won’t always be easy to scare away this beast. However, you must try your darndest to send the beast back to whatever cave or closet from which it came.

When you give too much of your energy to jealousy, it blocks out gratitude.

Gratitude is jealousy’s arch-nemesis.

I guarantee that you have at least one thing that makes you grateful. Focus on that one thing and think about how you’d feel if you lost it. I’m guessing you’d feel as bad as you do while you’re jealous, or even worse. Jealous vibes and negativity are like peanut butter and jelly.

I don’t know about you, but I know that I much prefer my peanut butter sans negativity. I also prefer my jam to be of a delightful Amish kind and not jelly in the sense of an abbreviation of jealous. You don’t want to get exiled to jelly school. It’s nowhere near as cool as Hogwarts. 

3) Viewing the Glass Half Empty 

Choosing to look at life’s circumstances with a lens favoring the negative rather than the positive only maintains your puss face. Why would you want to continually look like a child who hasn’t gotten their way? You should try and move past this phase.

Negative Nancies are so last season!

Unfortunate things do tend to unfold. However, when you cling to whatever sources of positivity that you can, it will benefit you much more than choosing to harp on the negatives.

Have faith that your negative experiences will enable you to rise like a fierce phoenix from the ashes. 

4) Not Taking Time for Yourself

It’s necessary to take some time out for yourself every now and again. Some might need more or less depending on your personality.

You have a plethora of options to pick from when you chose to kick back with yourself.

Enjoy the serenity found in solitude.

You know yourself best. If you don’t, it’s never too late to start!

5) Being Ungrateful

Being ungrateful is the perfect way to keep yourself miserable. It can also lead to nothing is ever good enough syndrome. Thinking about one to three things daily that you are truly thankful for will lift your spirits, even if it’s just a little. 

6) Constantly Complaining

Oh dear, do I know what it’s like to complain and then complain some more. Frankly, it gets exhaustingly ridiculous after a while.

The hot tub is too hot!

There isn’t enough whipped cream in my latte! I get it; life is such a harsh place at times. Shame on the barista that decided to snub you on whipped cream, some nerve. Millennials these days are something else. Be happy that you had the funds to buy that latte.

Or, on a basic level, be satisfied that your taste buds are still functioning. You get to sip that java and taste it in addition to getting your caffeine fix. 

7) Being Mean and Judgemental

Why feel the need to be so nasty? Are you perfect? What makes you better than everyone else? I think I have the answer, nothing. We are all here bumbling about on a rock in the middle of a colossal universe. A lot of us are trying the best we can. How did being mean and judgemental ever serve you? Did channeling Ebenezer Scrooge make you feel better?

If you answered yes, perhaps you’re just an a**hole.

Being foul and judgy isn’t necessarily found on the positivity train. If you enjoy having an unpleasant demeanor, feel free. But don’t expect a maximum potential for positivity when being cruel to others. Why do you feel the need to act that way?

Maybe you should do some digging and turn the mirror inward. People who go out of their way to be vile tend to be unhappy. 

8) Holding Grudges

When you refuse to forgive someone and let go, you’re only hurting yourself. You’re carrying around that negativity like dead weight. Let that sh*t go.

Lugging around the anger toward that person isn’t hurting them as much as it’s hurting you.

They may have been a real cold human being toward you, but that’s on them, not you. You’re allowed to be angry but don’t hold onto that anger. Release it either at the gym or take it out on someone else. I’m just kidding about taking it out on someone else. Don’t do that.

The goal is to acknowledge the anger, release it healthily, and let it go. 

9) Acting out on Your Anger

If you’ve seen the movie, Unfaithful, this is the perfect example of why you shouldn’t act out on your anger. I have a horrific temper, and if I decided to go Richard Gere on everyone I’ve wanted to, I wouldn’t be typing this out. You can fantasize about acts of violence.

Actually, try not to fantasize about acts of violence. When you’re in the heat of the moment, you’re bound to do something you’ll regret once the flames subside. Maintaining your cool is challenging, but if I can do it, anyone can.

One of my favorite quotes is a Chinese proverb that states,

If you’re patient in a moment of anger, you will escape one hundred days of sorrow.

Chinese Proverb

I’m not sure if this came from a fortune cookie or a more profound place, but I think it drives home a fantastic piece of advice. 

10) Not Trying to Help Yourself

Combating negativity isn’t an easy battle. The dark clouds swirling around in your mind can be quite thick. It can take a lot of energy to bring about the wind gusts necessary to drive out those clouds.

However, that energy is well worth it. It’s a daily challenge that you must choose to take on. You might get annoyed at yourself for trying to be positive when you feel negative as ever. But doing so is a step in the right direction.

It’s a conscious choice that you must make to be happy rather than pissed all the time. It’s not always an easy choice. The more you flex your positivity muscle, the stronger it will get. Do you want to be one of those bros at the gym busting out of their tank tops or the lazy person whose workout consists of lifting the remote?