By Katie Champlin

Some days, it can be hard. Hard to see how fortunate we are. Most of us walk through our lives, recognizing our problems and allowing them to consume our minds effortlessly. So much that the consumption of our minds becomes the consumption of our bodies, and we stop doing. Relationships, obstacles, illness, death: the nemesis of positive thinking. But what is positive thinking, anyway? Why would it benefit us in the slightest?
Rewind. The consumption of our minds becomes the consumption of our bodies, and we stop doing. What happens when we stop doing? We become numb. Each action and spoken word becomes a reflection of our subconscious. We eat out of habit, brush our teeth out of habit, repeat conversation about said problem, out of habit. We are simply doing the things necessary to survive without a reason to perform them. Life becomes mundane, and when someone asks, “How are you?” your response is probably, “Just another day.”

Really? Just another day? Is that because you suppose that yesterday is a mirror image of your tomorrow, and now is a pit of pig dung? Hold up. Do you have two hands? Right there, your day is off to a good start. Do you have a mode of transportation? A car, the bus, a bike, Uber, your own two feet? Still going strong. Do you have all your senses today? Can you see, can you hear? Do you have a snack in your bag, a meal to look forward to? A cell phone, a computer? Do you have a family to reach out to? Friends for support?

And if your answer to all of this is no, then you have the world. The world around you may seem like a gaping, unforgiving black hole, only offering a full plate of nothing, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Even when you think you have nothing or that you are nothing, this is simply your current perception, and perception is always susceptible to change.

Positive thinking does not always mean love, light and hippy-dippy; however, it does mean changing a degrading thought process into one that encourages progression. A thought process that helps one accept her current stance in life and how her future could unfold — that while one may currently “amount to nothing,” a dream to become something will be realized intent and determination. Positive thinking is being grateful for the things which you do have, and faithful that the things you still need will fall into place according with time. It is remembering that things are in fact just things, and we are lucky to have awoken once again today. It is considering your standpoint and recognizing there is always someone who has it worse off today. Maybe you have it even have it good enough that you can find time to help another.

At some point, we all wonder why we are here. We all ache to be something better — a hero of our time — but repeating self-degrading thoughts every day for the rest of our lives will not get us to our far-fetched idea of our perfect selves. It is action, commitment, perseverance, and a will for positive change that create progression within us. Progression that could be strong enough to change others’ perceptions and encourage them to be their best selves too. It is time to move on from darkness — to be at peace with its presence, to learn from it, to let it live inside us and simultaneously tell it to piss off and let us perform what is needed to thrive.