Hey there Healthy Apron readers! It’s Stefanie from The New Healthy here. I’m so excited to be guest posting for Erin while she’s soaking up the sun in Hawaii! Lucky girl!
If you’ve visited my blog or read my story, then you know that I’ve lost a significant amount of weight. While most of that can be attributed to good old-fashioned healthy eating and exercise, a chunk of it also stems from changing my attitude.
The idea that a positive attitude can directly affect a situation’s outcome is one that has been met with skepticism. Heck, I was a skeptic not too long ago. It seems too simple to be true.
But the truth of the matter is that your outlook—as well as your attitude—is directly under your control. Only YOU can control the way you deal with a situation. Only YOU can control your reactions and emotions.
Let’s get hypothetical. It’s Monday morning. You’re running late to work/class/doctor’s appointment – halfway there, you get pulled over for speeding. Now you’re running even later and you’re thinking “could this day get any worse—ugh, I hate Mondays and I can’t wait to get home and bury my head under the pillows.” Remember, this is all hypothetical—this has never happened to me. 
There are two ways this situation can go: uphill or downhill. With a positive attitude, you can salvage your Monday OR you can adopt a negative attitude and let the morning’s events dictate the rest of your day. I don’t know about you, but hands-down I’d choose to save the day. The choice is yours.
Let’s rewind a few years. My knee-jerk reaction to the above situation would have been “gosh life sucks today; I’m going to go home, lie in bed, and feel sorry for myself. Blah. Hello, where does that get you? It’s a one-way ticket to NOWHERE!
Alright, let’s get back to the present day. It’s my constant goal to avoid letting unfortunate situations ruin my day. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to deal with any negative situations. But the world is far from perfect—and so we all deal with potentially negative situations day in and day out.
So what would my current-day response be to our hypothetical situation? “You know, getting a ticket sucks—BUT, it’s certainly not the end of the world. Guess I’ll have to scale back on the Starbucks trips and I’ll have the money in no time. Done and done.” Then I move on with my day. You see? It’s all about the way you react.
I realize that I’m making this whole positive attitude thing sound much easier than it actually is. While it is a choice, it still takes practice. You have to be conscious of how you handle situations in order for positivity to gain power. Over time, it becomes natural.
It’s simple to start out—when faced with the adverse, just take a few deep breaths, remind yourself that there’s no need to throw away the day over a few mishaps, and move on.
This can be applied to so many areas of your life. I certainly applied it throughout my weight loss journey. If I had given up every time I made a mistake, I would still be at square one. Skipped a workout? Ate too much? Fell off the wagon? It’s not the end of the world.
A positive attitude alone won’t solve your problems—but it will help you get right back on track towards doing so!
By no means am have I a perfect positive Polly— but I always remind myself that by being positive, I can truly own my day.
At the bare minimum, just try it out. You really have nothing to lose.
QUESTION:
Do you think you have control over your attitude?
Do you assert that control and try to face life with a positive outlook?
<3 Stefanie
Hey Stefanie!!Fancy to see you here
Great guest post!! I find that when I have more of a positive attitude and look at the bright side of things my life is much more serene. I used to be VERY high strung and negative…it got me no where!
I think we always have control over our attitude, but it can be hard to control it when things don’t always g our way.
I am fascinated by this topic and wondering if any of this is “nature” vs “nurture”?
I know so many siblings who have such vastly different outlooks on life…..is some of that just the way we were born? I wonder!
This is such a great post!!
Guest posts are SO cool!!! 
I know that when I start my day off positively (like with OATS + PEANUT BUTTAH), I always have a better attitude!!
These tips sound a lot like one of my favorite books; Slowing Down to the Speed of Life. It changed my life! Congrats on your tremendous weight loss. You’re an inspiration for all of your readers. Keep up the great work, and keeping being positive
It really DOES make life run smoother!
This was such a great post! And so true! My Monday started off similar to this and I was actually in a pretty horrible mood. After getting to work and getting organized (ive been on vacation for a week) I started feeling better.
Awesome Monday morning post! It definitley takes will power to find the positive in negative situations, but in the end it will help you feel better throughout the day mentally and physically. Time to start looking at the glass as half full instead of half empty.
SO NEEDED THIS TODAY! Ive had a crappy day and I realized that its ME whos crappy! I need to get my act together!
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
- R. Emerson
I love positive thinking! But I certainly have to work on it. I am always getting stuck in “bad day ruts” Thanks for this post, it is a perfect reminder!
I try to be positive most of the time, but sometimes it’s just plain hard. That’s when I actually employ “fake it til you make it” mode
What a great post to kick off a Monday Stefanie! I wonder why we find it so much easier to be negative & pessimisstic? The power of positivity works in amazing ways and while it can be so hard to change your way of thinking, eventually when positivity becomes your “norm”, your life will be so much richer! I used to be the negative thinker (you’re example pretty much described me
, but life is a much better place now that I’ve consciously made a change to the way I think and perceive the things that are happening around me and to me.
So true! A positive attitude can work in almost all situations. It helps me view mistakes or failures in a better way, which is much more motivating for me to try again…and work harder.
Great post Stef!! I think it’s so true that you can control your attitude and the way you see situations. Like you, I’m not always all “sunshine and lollipops” all the time, but I do my best to stay optimistic and look for the positives in situations. On that note, have a lovely Monday!
Awesome guest post!!!! I agree that just by having a more positive outlook, the way you live your daily life is completely changed!