Positive Message
5 years ago
United States

I want to tackle something that our society has established in our lives. Negativity. You may want to throw this out and mark it off instantly as "nonsense" or not "worth my time". What you just said to yourself is exactly why you should read this. Let me reassure you, it is worth every bit of time you let it be.

Society has developed the perfect way to incorporate negativity into everyone's lives, whether it be your self-consciousness, the way you dress, the way you do your makeup, how you look at others. We as a society judge every single day, even if it's not intentional or "harmful". We are constantly comparing ourselves to those around us, those we look up to or try and bring down to make ourselves feel more important or more relevant than someone else. Humans are not born with self-consciousness, we are taught. At a young age, your parents, your teachers might make you feel like you will never be successful or that you will not matter in life if you do not do as well as little Timmy that sits 3 desks behind you in the first grade. This basic comparison can root self doubt in a person, a person that has a very malleable young mind and is looking to the generator of this knowledge, in order to know what is right and what is wrong.

This negativity, this self doubt that they now know, is what they understand to be. Parents, compare one child to another in order to spark "self-interest" in their child. You are teaching them now to compare themselves to everyone, to you, where you are in life, how did you get to be where you are. They now compare themselves to everyone, which becomes this standard that everyone lives by.

As a society I believe comparing yourself to another person period needs to come to an end. Achieve a positive relationship with yourself, better yourself.

The aptness in our society proves where we are. Face the world not as a negative being but as a positive beacon for others. Bring the hate and insecurities in this world to it's knees. Make every single day you walk this place as positive as humanly possible. No more tearing others' down. I say onto you, world. Let us not speak of change, let us make the change and create a better place for all of us.

If you are reading this, today, tomorrow, next year. Envision a better place not just for you or for your family, for all.

Go out of your way, today, after reading this and spend one single minute of your day today and spread this positive message with someone, anyone.

Now stop envisioning.

Let us make the world a better place, together.

  • Vixy
CPZXIII, A1ex and 11 others like this
Essex, England

Cool beans

  • paintophobia
Edited by the author 5 years ago
Omnises and Bogdan_mk like this
European Union

alternative outlook: develope an extremely deep-rooted depression and overlay it with a farçe of memes to hide the depression. never feel adequate doing anything, as if whatever you do is never good enough, not even if you're already doing it to nigh-perfection.

Zachoholic, Casssss and 3 others like this
United States

Self-consciousness is not inherently negative. While perhaps, yes, self-consciousness and many other things such as theory of mind develop through being taught by our parents at a very young age, that doesn't mean it's socially specific. Every single society teaches their kids these things unintentionally as it's a part of growing a child and a child growing. I fear the thought of being truly isolated, a human without other humans, as the repercussions of boredom are horrific. Humans are social creatures, and avoiding judgement, both receiving and giving, positive or negative, can be just as negative as being too self-conscious. Everybody, or nearly everybody, is self-conscious to a degree and experiences this judging, yet most everybody isn't so effected as it would be negative mentally or otherwise. Things like self-doubt can be healthy, as well as and along with self-confidence. Think about it this way: critiquing something is the only way it improves. Critiquing a video game helps the game dev make better games.

As the sayings go, too much of one thing is bad, and it's all about finding a balance.

I overall have more to say, however I'm choosing to be careful with what I say and how I say it, as I understand this can be quite touchy. My overall opinion is that you can't blame society for everything. For teaching you to be negative, or teaching you to be self-conscious. There are plenty of positive, healthy people in the world, or in America if that's what you are talking about specifically. You have to build up your own "beacon of positivity" if that's what you strive to do - letting others help you do so, as well as helping others who also wish to do so. If someone chooses to be a negative Nancy, you can look at them with pity and try to change them, but it's ultimately something they have to decide to change.

-Omnises

MelonSlice likes this
Russia

wow, we finally have a bunch of new mods here. welcome.

(the only person i compare myself is myself, and i hate myself for doing that)

United Kingdom

Being self-conscious is just human nature.

Whilst I think it's damaging to put excess pressure onto kids at a very young age, being self-conscious can also be a tool that makes people improve and be the best they can be. Some people are motivated to do things purely because they've seen others do something, and believe they can either do it better or just as well as they are able to.

As a person, I believe negativity has a purpose. In that it highlights the positivity even more so. Surrounding yourself only with positivity, whilst it would be bliss in some kind of idealistic world, only sets you up to fall harder in terms of being unable to handle any negativity when it arises.

I also think some people blow out of proportion what 'negativity' actually is. As someone mentioned above regarding critique, I am someone who values critique/criticism very highly, and believe it is a necessary component to bettering yourself. Yet, there are people out there who believe both of the former are purely negative, or they choose to live behind rose-tinted glasses and only take critique that they themselves deem as 'critique', everything else they simply blow off as negativity and ignore.

Edited by the author 5 years ago
MelonSlice and Omnises like this
West Sussex, England

Some people tend to get worked up over stuff really, or deliberately stir up controversy and generally induce communities with their poison, which is in a different league to what is construed as trolling. This more often than not feeds negativity, and sometimes induces or even introduces negativity in others (as shown with Liv's comments). Of course, that's not to say that the internet as a whole is mostly negative or that there are no places where a positive attitude is encouraged. Such places do exist, you just have to find the right people to talk to. Make one of your own if you like, such as a Discord server, and try socialising whilst being polite and relaxed at the same time. Show respect, and most of the time it will be returned to you. And don't get riled up if someone disagrees with your opinion, or be a dick for the sake of it, this cannot be stressed enough.

EDIT: I also wanted to say thanks for putting this message across, I appreciate it. :)

Edited by the author 5 years ago
Scotland

years of hurt is going to take years to fix, but one day I hope to be in the position where I can be more positive about myself, hopefully.

Casssss likes this
United States

@MelonSlice , I believe you will definitely be capable.

Casssss and ShikenNuggets like this