Are We Still Having a Happy New Year!

Some of us are probably figuring out what to do with our lives and what new and exciting career or hobby to pursue. Many of us may have already written our goals down, tracked our progress, and even learned from last year’s mistakes. Still, there’s an on-going obstacle we must face.

Negativity! It’s everywhere! It can be found in our homes, schools, businesses, and other organizations—even religious institutions! In order to move forward and try to have a healthy-minded New Year, we have to learn how to avoid this negativity because it is extremely contagious.

Negativity is Like a Parasite

Like it or not, negativity can have an impact on our lives. If you don’t catch it first, someone around you might so look out, it’s coming!

The virus of negativity affects our outlook on life, how we treat people and most importantly, how we treat ourselves. Similar to Marvel’s Venom movie, such a negative parasite can completely take over people’s personalities and cause all types of problems.

Wait? What’s Venom?

Watch the Marvel movie trailer hereto catch on to the metaphor.

Then come back here to discover the…

5 Steps to Avoiding the Virus of Negativity

Ok, so the Venom metaphor is quite extreme, but the concept of how contagious a bad attitude can be is evident. So here’s what you need to do to avoid all of that:

1. Wash your hands.

Wash your hands from things that may cause doubt, failure, or hopelessness in your life.

Taking on a challenge is difficult enough without someone whispering into your ear about all the reasons why you can’t reach your goal. Constructive criticism is always needed and should be welcomed—but to emphasize the cons more than the pros…yeah, that’s a little negative-virus that needs disinfected quickly.

2. Use soap to scrub and disinfect the virus.

Rinsing your hands with just water isn’t going to kill a virus. It’s like confronting someone without coming to a resolution. Addressing an issue without scrubbing into the cause of the problem is like rinsing a dirty dish towel. It still isn’t clean! If you want to deal with the root of the problem, you will need to disinfect it. How do you disinfect a nasty negative-virus? With resolve—not the actual cleaning product Resolve either. Find the mental resolve to be at peace with the outcome and be ready to move on with life.

3. Dry your hands with a paper towel.

Think of that paper towel as the agent that separates you from that negative virus. That paper towel gives you a clean slate from negativity, wiping away any remnants of doubt, fear, disbelief, hopelessness, and unforgiveness. It is the tangible object that represents the doing away of whatever stronghold over your life that’s preventing you from reaching your goals.

4. Turn off faucet with a paper towel.

That same towel you used to dry your hands is now a filthy towel. What you have left is soap scum. Soap scum in this situation refers to how you may have claimed that you’ve forgiven –but, you really haven’t forgotten. It represents a remnant of hurt feelings that may take a little more time and effort to get rid of. Scum collects more scum and that is how germs spread. The same can be applied to your life.

When you are fighting that negative virus, feelings are hurt and grudges are held. It has been said that “Hurt people, hurt people.” Discouraged souls with damaged egos, low-self-esteem, or unresolved feelings often lash out. Some people have been hurt so much that they close themselves away from everyone, hurting the ones they love.

Use that paper towel to wipe away any issues that may be lingering. This means making a mends with the people who hurt you or even those you may have hurt. Shut it all down and wipe it all away!

5. Use a paper towel to open the exit door and then discard into trash.

Spread the love. Not the virus. Remember, you now have the resolve of knowing that whatever obstacles come your way, you will overcome them with a positive outlook leaving bitterness and resentment behind. This doesn’t mean you won’t encounter another funky negative virus though, and it doesn’t mean that all of this will be easy to do.

The healing of hurt feelings and other psychological issues do not go away overnight. You are still vulnerable to other germs, especially during a healing process. So after you discard that paper towel of residue and scum, be careful and steer clear of potential germs that want to kick you while you’re down. In other words, watch your back!

Moving Forward into 2019

So you’re feeling good, cleaned up, and ready to take on the New Year with a fresh outlook! Now it’s time to think of others.
Like a common cold virus, a negative virus can easily spread from people neglecting to clean up behind themselves. This results in lingering viruses just waiting to jump on to the next victim.

Cleaning Up the New Year

We need to be more considerate of others by trying not to be so messy with our own issues. We need to disinfect our thought process from any negativity that will affect how we address ourselves and others—and be careful not to take our personal issues out on other people. If we don’t wash away that bad attitude, most likely it will rub off on someone else infecting them with a bad day or general outlook on life. If our response toward negativity is associated with bitterness and resentment, then where does that negative virus have to go? Nowhere! It’s just going to fester and get worse. If we combat that negative-virus with compassion, positivity, and kindness, then we’re using the resolve within ourselves—which is also contagious!

Written by Zorina Frey – Miami, Florida

So uhm yeah…

I’m still on this Venom thing! If you haven’t or don’t plan on watching the movie, Eminem’s song and video for the movie that is also titled “Venom” is a nice artistic representation on how contagious an attitude can be. Watch it here.

Submit Your Work!