Ever wake up in a decent mood? Feel the fresh breeze on your face and plan to have a great day? And then....dun dun dun....you have a 5 minute conversation with someone (anyone) and you feel drained? Maybe you didn’t even say anything but you felt NEGATIVE ENERGY looming and it took over? Hmmm....can’t you just POOF your way back to your good mood?
It’s happened to me more than once. I didn’t get it. Sometimes now (because I’m in my late 30’s), I can see it coming. But I don’t like to be a pessimist and expect bad energy or people or moods.
And I’m not talking about a best friend venting about a health issue. I’m talking about when you are in the office or at a PTA meeting and all you hear is “this one is doing that wrong” and “that one should be doing this instead of that”.
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I can tell you from personal experience that years ago, I would probably have gotten caught up in the conversation because I was nosy and perhaps I just wanted to know what was being said about me or my friends or family so that I could be the defense. But now years later, I just learned that negative people don’t necessarily mean any harm, but maybe just caught up in criticism because it’s easy to start a conversation like that. But here’s the thing, how do you direct people away from that and focus on lighter topics or something productive instead of negative or destructive? How do you make sure that you don't get caught up in the downward flow and fall deep into it.
Hmmm......Maybe go with lighter topics? Movies? Silly stories? Happy do-good news? Maybe make that negative person will feel better if you dig into your own thoughts to try to make them feel better. What if that doesn’t work?
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Well, if it’s not effecting you to keep trying then go for it, lend a helping hand if you can. Sometimes a good laugh is priceless and if you can spread the cackle, go for it. But if the negative mood is directly effecting you and you can’t bring yourself out of a rut, then maybe it’s time to spend less time with that person until you can get yourself up and out of the dark and help others out.
Now I can foresee Patch comments:
How the heck do you know all of this? What makes you an expert?
And the answer is that I am NOT an expert and I don’t know all the answers. I just know that if you succumb to the negativity, it may just grow. But for what purpose and to what extent? Here’s the thing, would you rather sit around and complain about your job or friends? Or would you rather get a bunch of initiatives together to make your work place better? Or even make all your friends laugh? Or you can be that one person that turns it all around and makes everyone's bad moods turn into good moods?
Hey I guess try to look ahead of the situation at hand. If you know that you won't get dragged into it, then it's "safe". If you think it's something that's needs caution, then watch it closely or try to help. Any other advice or what has worked for you? Please post it here, I'm always up for hearing what helps others (may just help me too!)
As the Principle of my daughters' elementary school always says, "Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours."
(from Project Wisdom www.projectwisdom.com)
