There’s always that one time in life where you feel like you can’t go on. When the world just feels too heavy on your shoulders. While I was younger, I struggled with too much negativity surrounding me. I allowed the negativity to control who I was and how my day went. Eventually, I woke up one day and I decided things have to change. I needed to do something that can help me cope with what’s going on around me. Over the years, I’ve learned that the following four tips are what helped me through it all. I would always go to one of my many options to help me be strong, positive, and to block out any negativity that comes my way. Here’s a few of the things that help me.

 

1. Try something new/go on a small adventure

Personally, I make it my goal to do this on a weekly. It keeps me on my feet and it allows me to discover myself in different ways. It also gives me something to look forward to at the end of the week, which fortunately gives me a positive mentality even on a hard week. This definitely helped me recently during midterm week. 7 classes and all my professors decided to have a midterm on the same week. Of course I was so stressed and having a breakdown almost every night. I decided to go on a small adventure after midterm week. One thing that I’ve never done and what I thought fit the season pretty well was go to a pumpkin patch. Once I got there, I was so happy. All my hard work studying finally paid off. I felt satisfaction getting through a hard week and I also felt happiness experiencing something new for the first time.

 

2. Treat yourself every now and then

I know some of us are college students and we love to say “I’m a broke college student.” But it isn’t bad to treat yourself every once in a while. Even if it’s just food, a concert, or even shopping. Personally, I love to treat myself after a job well done cause it’s like my “prize” for all my hard work. And let me tell you, the feeling I get every time I treat myself after I’ve accomplished something is great!! It always makes me feel more confident, positive, and like anything is possible no matter how difficult it may be. Yes, it may cost you money to treat yourself. But for me, money is nothing compared to feeling happy, rewarded, and stress free.

 

3. Do something you love the most

This is definitely my ABSOLUTE favorite thing to do. My favorite thing to do is play volleyball. It relieves stress 100%, puts a smile on my face 24/7, and I always have a good time. When I do something I love, it feels like my personal escape to another world. Everything just feels perfect around me. My advice, is always to try and do what you love every day. It doesn’t have to be for a couple of hours. It could just be for an hour or even a couple minutes. Doing this will promote a happy and positive day and a good lifestyle. If you don’t know what you love doing, try a couple things until you find the right one. And if you get tired of it, find another thing you love doing. Find your escape, your happiness, your stress reliever and have a good time doing it!

 

4. Just keep that smile on your face

A person once told me “fake it until you make it.” Even if your smile is fake, just put it on your face and eventually, it’ll become real. And it’s proven that a smile on your face can be very contagious to others. So not only are you going to make yourself happy, but you’re also going to make others around. The more you put a smile on your face, the more routine it’ll feel and eventually, it’ll be something that just naturally occurs to you. Putting a smile on my face definitely helps. Even during the hardest days. Whether I’ve had zero sleep or not looking forward to taking a hard exam, a smile always makes me feel better. Throughout the day, I feel brighter and positive (I look positive so I’d want to play the part also). A smile will definitely ward off all the negativity that wants to ruin your day.

 

Altogether, these four things are what makes me stress free and positive. These are like my necessities for promoting positivity. In addition, this is something I’ve done for a really long time, since I was in middle school and it helped me have a better lifestyle. I’ve also used these tips to help me cope with anything that life throws my way. Hopefully, these tips can help you have a better day. It may feel weird at first, but with enough practice, you’ll be able to perfect these tips and apply them to your own life. You may be able to spread your positivity to others, and who knows, you’ll probably be the one who can brighten up their day!!