Attitude Adjustments

“If you don’t like something change it, if you can’t change it, change your attitude about it”

 – Maya Angelo

I love this quote and I agree with it wholeheartedly, but I know at times it’s hard to change your attitude or maybe you’re just in a bad mood that day or whatever the case may be. Apparently I am very guilty of walking around with an angry look on my face because I can’t tell you the amount of times that I’ve been stopped and told to smile (don’t get me wrong, I’m sure half of the time this is just a poor attempt for guys to talk to girls, but I agree). Why should I be walking around with a stank face on?

***Side Note: Stank face is absolutely appropriate when doing certain dances such as the dougie and the stanky leg, and if you just smelled something that had some stank to it***

So I propose the Smile Strategy….

“A smile is a curve that sets everything straight” - @RevRunWisdom

If you feel happy then you look happy right? Well what if we swap this around and start from looking happy to actually feeling happy inside. Now don’t get me wrong, I understand that you would look like a crazy serial killer if you walk around alone with a big ol’ cheesy grin on your face, however what about starting your day with a smile. When you first wake up and no one is looking or when you’re in the shower… just try it. You will probably feel like a fool and that in itself might make you laugh and smile harder. If that sounds too dumb for you hard asses then I suggest thinking of something really funny that happened to you recently or watching a funny youtube video just to get a good laugh in before the day starts. I think my most favorite thing to do in the world is laugh, and if every day I wake up and I still have the ability to laugh then it’s a good day no matter what happens.

If you don’t think that this is too crazy of an idea than some of you might enjoy a couple of books I’ve read over the past couple years:

The Happiness Advantage (The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work) – Shawn Achor

                The Strangest Secret (How to Live the Life You Desire) – Earl Nightingale

So in order to make myself sound even crazier I’m not going to end this post there….

What if we flipped Maya Angelo’s quote around a bit? What if we feel too positively about something and we want to feel negative about it? (Yep, here I go talking all crazy again, but seriously…)

Two main examples of this are FOOD and RELATIONSHIPS. I will relate more to the food portion because let’s be honest me and relationships haven’t quite worked out in the past (no worries, still got my hopes up). Anyways let’s get down to business.

As a 24 year old female I spend my days with 2 things on my mind: Sweets and Sex (apologies to the adults who will always consider me ‘sweet little innocent Dana’ for the second one, but I’m just being honest).

We grow up viewing sweets as a reward. If we clean our plate and eat enough carrots then we can enjoy some ice-cream for dessert, or if you got a good grade then your parents might celebrate with a cake and same for birthdays and any other big occasion.  So now every day in my adult life after I finish lunch or dinner I feel like I deserve to treat myself with a sweet. This does not go well with trying to stay healthy and fit (especially when portion control goes out the window when you take your first bite). So to get to my point: HOW DO I START HATING SWEETS? I would give a lot to never crave a brownie, cupcake, or ice-cream again.  I hear that the less sugar you have the less you crave it, but I just don’t know how to get to this point. My mind becomes weak and gets overtaken by the cravings. Sometimes I fight and sometimes i fail, just depends on the day.

The same can be said for certain relationships (I suppose friendships could be included too, but I think this is more of a ‘more than a friend’ ordeal). So what happens when you have feelings for someone, but you know that they aren’t good for you or the feelings aren’t reciprocated? Unlike the sweets I don’t want to figure out how to start hating people, but seriously how do you stop the “cravings” that you have for certain people? Is it like what people say about sugar (I still don’t know if I believe that though) and if you don’t see that person than you won’t think about them? Or do you need something else to occupy your mind completely until the feelings just don't exist anymore or you become less aware of them?

I wish I did, but I have no answers for this portion of the post because I’m still looking for the easy fix. Where is the pill that controls my sweet tooth and where is the pill that keeps us from thinking about people that really aren’t even worth our time? I do believe that time helps reduce feelings for people, but man I’m screwed with the sweet tooth part. So I’m up for any suggestions.

Overall after reading this I hope you all realize a couple things: 1. how important smiling is in order to have a positive attitude, and 2. that every day can be a battle of attitudes, thoughts, cravings and so on, but you just have to decide what’s best for you and fight on your side of the battle. Oh and 3. a stank face is okay when dancing lol.

Well that’s my food for thought for the day. Now I’m headed to bed because sleep always murders my cravings for a few hours, but like most villains they will be back for a sequel tomorrow.

Night Night J

- D