Several people ask me how I stay so positive. Many think my positivity stems from my perfect life where nothing goes wrong. But that is far from the truth. I do have downs in life, quite possibly more often than people think, however, there are a couple methods I use that help me stay positive.

  First, no matter what happens, I look forward to something good happening in the future. For example, let’s say I failed a test. The next thing I’ll do is, instead of focusing on the one test I completely botched, I think of all the assignments or tests I can do better on to raise my grade. Looking forward to something good in the future helps me move on rather than staying focused on the past and missing my chances of changing things for the better.

   Next, I try not to bottle up my feelings. When things happen in life, it’s never good to hold feelings of sadness, guilt, anger, envy, and even happiness. So when something happens in my life, I always run to a couple of my closest friends and tell them all about what I am feeling. I end with a clear mind, which helps me think positively and make better choices. When I bottle up my feelings, my emotions end up clouding my judgement along with how I see life. You don’t need to tell everyone how you feel, but it’s better to have at least one or two people you can always rely on.

  Lastly, I take a moment of my day to step back and observe everyone else. Doing this helps me realize that I’m not in this alone. Nobody lives a perfect life. Some people hide their hardships a lot better than others do. By stepping back and focusing on others, I can see what other people are going through and how they’re persevering through the hardships, inspiring me to be positive; several people go through worse situations than I do, but still walk with a smile on their face. Seeing how they can push through their pain and encourages me to try and do the same.

 I get that being positive can be difficult at times. However, in the end it’s these three things that really helped me look at life differently. For those of you who are trying to be more positive, I have a message for you: Being positive doesn’t only affect you but those around you. A lot of people have told me that me being happy makes them happy.

  Right now, I know that you are going through something whether it’d be something small or big. However, I want you to start being positive right now by looking past the negative and smile—not a small awkward smile, but a huge big one.