We’ve all faced situations where it gets hard to see the brighter side, and we’re not really in the mood to come to a compromise with our negativity. While we all feel like we may need a punching bag after a shouting match at work, or on a day that everything goes wrong, we secretly know it’s not the best way to handle an adverse situation. To maintain your calm and keep yourself collected during a stressful situation, where you can find no way out, use these little techniques to stay positive. When everything is falling apart, these will help you rise to the occasion and be the bigger person at any given time.
Don’t stay idle
An adverse situation, or an extreme mishap can send us into a whirlwind of negative emotions, and give rise to a thousand pessimistic thoughts by the minute. Staying idle, or sitting back and thinking too much about it will just make you dwell on it, and make you endlessly nurture negativity. You will end up over-thinking yourself to death without achieving anything productive in the bargain. While you must put your life on pause for the time being, do something that can temporarily take your mind off what is bothering you, and help collect your thoughts and put them in the right places. Watch a TV show, a funny video, read a light-hearted book, play a game on your phone, meditate, and so on. Once the cloud of negativity has somewhat cleared, you can actually be productive when you think about a solution or a way out of the situation.
Use distractions
If you can’t seem to get out of the dark place by yourself, use as much assistance as you can get. Talk to a friend who’s always ready to listen to you rant, cuddle up to your pet and involve yourself in their antics, exercise or do yoga, cook and eat a meal that qualifies as comfort food, go on a shopping spree, and so on. Do whatever you can to avoid spiralling into the deep dark corner of negative emotions that awaits you whenever the going gets tough.
Go to your happy place
This is more of an immediate effect solution, but it always works like a charm. Whenever you’re in a situation where you’ve just had an argument, or you just feel low about things not going your way for days together, go back to your archive of happy memories and access your favourite ones, and keep them in your head till the storm calms. Think about the holiday you took with your S.O, or the time your baby or niece gave you instant gratification with a bright beautiful smile. Not only will this help you get a more balanced and nuanced perspective on things, it will also help you realise that this situation is not permanent. Life always finds a way to bring you back from your black hole, and you slowly learn this when you train yourself to go to your happy place each time you feel negativity creeping in.
Try unconventional techniques
While it may sound counterproductive, demonstrating your desire to get rid of negative feeling in unconventional ways is the best thing you can do to make you feel better. Try writing your feelings on a piece of paper, and burn it to ashes when done. You can also use a whiteboard, and literally wipe away the negativity when you’re ready. Actively destroying things you associate with what is bogging you down will help revive you from the dark, and give you the right amount of closure you need in the current situation.
Think of it as a life lesson
According to philosopher Nietzsche, “that which doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger,” and that couldn’t be truer in this context. If none of the above are helping you get out of a dark place, or you’re simply not motivated enough to do anything that can make it better, just remember that this too shall get over, and the light at the end of the tunnel will eventually make it to you. Treat setbacks as life lessons, because there’s always something to learn from it. And it’ll always help you look at the bigger picture. This in itself can add a pinch of positivity that can keep you going forward, when everything else is at a standstill.
