Let's see... in Anxiety Vents

How do I write something optimistic?

I desperately want to write something optimistic. I can’t find it right now. I have spent almost a month of not writing when I need to write because I am struggling to find something optimistic to write about. I don’t want to dwell on my pessimistic feelings. But things are really difficult right now.

I have tried reading other journals to get some inspiration maybe. But I kept getting sidetracked from my objective. And it is most definitely hard to be positive when you see other sad things.

On a positive note for that, though, it provides some perspective that is awesome. I am not the only one going through tough things. My things are different, but everyone is different. And everyone has feelings. Some feelings are even opposite of mine. I am glad not everyone thinks alike. When I talk to someone different from me, I can learn and grow. Learn more about myself and my own feelings when I try their feelings on for size and try to walk a mile in their shoes. Even though I know very little about who they are. I mean how could I possibly from just one entry or one encounter? And I have my own biases that limit what I am able to see even when I remember to try, but just by interacting with someone, I find I learn something about myself.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of times I just have a highly emotional reaction to someone I disagree with, too. And I know everyone does that. But I really do try to see the person underneath the emotions and opinions rather than just dismissing someone all-together because they have a different political opinion from mine or because they live in a different kind of environment than I do. And I feel, for me at least, that a lot of the time I think I am angry about something or someone, it is just because I do not understand or do not try to understand. I see the world through my eyes and not theirs. I don’t know what they went through to make them who they are and how they are. I certainly would not want to treat my child and their feelings like that, if I had a child. So I feel like I owe it to everyone to try to understand, at least on some level, because everyone deserves that chance. Just like a small child would. Just like my child would. We are all children once, after all, and we became who we are because of what we went through. Our experiences, those things are how we learn and grow. That’s what life is. A collection of experiences. The purpose of things.

Wow! That turned optimistic a lot easier than I thought it would without even getting to why I was feeling so negative! That is awesome! See, I really do need to sit down and write more.

All right, I was writing this just for me and was going to post it privately and work through some feelings on my own, but you know what? I think this one gets to go in my Public book, even though the title of that book doesn’t fit. Whatever. I hope these positive feelings I just managed to find will spread some positivity on to you. Even just a little bit. Because negatives can overwhelm so easily.

Last updated March 27, 2023