The Power of Positivity

If I was rich, I'd hire some upstart grad student to fill my posts with scientific evidence so I could actually prove that every once in a while, I'm spot on with my life advice.
But I'm not rich, and I'm fresh out of upstart grad students anyway... sooooo this is my "no sources, no in-text citations, and no expert advice" blog post. Proceed with caution You have been warned.
From my own personal experience, I believe that I have learned a lot about the power of positivity in life. I've always been a perpetual optimist, and over the years, my optimism has morphed from a juvenile refusal to acknowledge evil in the world to a more mature (but probably still stupid) belief that despite the evil in the world, there are still so many reasons to be happy and hopeful. This semester, however, has stretched my optimism to the limit.
It's easy to be optimistic about the futures of gas prices when you don't have a car or a license. It's easy to tell a friend to cheer up when you don't have to deal with what she's going through. Basically, it's easy to be optimistic when you are detached from a situation. But when your challenges get upfront and personal, that's when things get difficult. Suddenly, your optimism and happiness becomes a daily fight instead of a reflex. Doubt, despair, and just plain complaints threaten to overtake all of your bright hopes and dreams. This is when positive thinking gets hard, but this is also when it gets important.
When life gets hard, I've found that I need optimism in my life. Often, my challenges are unchangeable. I can't get rid of term papers, I can't force people to do what I want them to do, and I can't make the Cannon Center serve Mahi Mahi tacos on days when I'm not working. The more I complain about these types of things, the more miserable I get. As President Holland says,
"No misfortune is so bad that whining about it won’t make it worse."
Even though we all know this in our heads, the application of said knowledge isn't always smooth sailing. For example, sometimes, I justify negative thinking by saying that it's pushing me to achieve more, that somehow by thinking "gosh Kai, you're a disaster" I'll become better. The opposite is actually true. Negative thinking is discouraging: it robs me of my motivation and effectiveness. Although it seems obvious, we so often forget that there is nothing positive about negative thinking.
Now that doesn't mean you can't have bad days. That's stupid. Everyone has bad days, bad weeks, and bad months. And sometimes complaining to someone about our problems can actually help cleanse negativity out of our systems. But letting negative thoughts stick around in our brains can only amount to heaps of discouragement, distress, and depression.
So today, start small. Counter your fears with some faith, replace your discouragement with determination. Your circumstances won't change, but your life will.