In a world where suicides resulting from stress and depression are rising, what price would you pay to keep a positive attitude?

Maybe there isn’t. But to some extent, a long and positive life doesn’t come on a silver platter. There is a way you could go about things in your life to make you stay positive.

According to the World Health Organization, depression is a common mental disorder. It affects over 264 million people of all ages across the world. It’s also a major contributor to the global disease burden.

However, you shouldn’t confuse it with typical mood fluctuations and mild stress levels arising from everyday challenges.

WHO also reports that 800,000 people commit suicide every year. Suicide is the second leading cause of death worldwide among 15-29-year-olds.

Your mental health is key to your survival. Your thoughts are the source of your life. Learn to master them, and you have solved 80% of the problems in your life. Your heart is the wellspring of life. Here, we give you simple but kick-ass tips to keep you positive and live longer.

How to Keep a Positive Attitude in the Face of Adversity

1. Keep a Positive Attitude through Hope

According to the Merriam-Webster, Dictionary, hope as a doing word is to cherish a desire with anticipation. As a noun from the same source, hope is desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment.

The opposite of hope is despair. You may despair because you feel life has no meaning anymore. Still, you could lose hope because of trouble in your life that made you suffer.

On the same note, you could lose hope because of a series of empty promises from friends and enemies.

But I’m here to tell you to keep the hope. Keep it because it will protect you when people may want to take advantage of your desperate situation.

You need to keep the hope because it will help you envision something beautiful out of life. According to the American Psychology Association, children who grew up in poverty and ended up being successful had one thing in common: Hope

2. Handle Criticism in a Healthier Way

Criticism is the act of finding fault in someone or something. In most cases, criticism is never about the receiver but the person speaking it. How many times in your life have you shied away from what you want to do in life because of the fear of criticism?

Often, fear of criticism leads to impassivity, sucking the joy and life out of you. Nevertheless, you shouldn’t fear criticism, but you would rather handle it more healthily by embracing a positive attitude towards it.

Often, fear of criticism leads to impassivity, sucking the joy and life out of you. Nevertheless, you shouldn’t fear criticism, but you would rather handle it in a healthier way.

Diving deep and further, you can learn to handle criticism healthier rather than running away from it.

For instance, some comments can be a criticism if we take them to heart or make them personal. On the contrary, you can make the situation less tense by laughing the comments off.

At best, it is good not to reply but let go. But if you must reply, you may want to start with a question to hear the criticism once more. To add on, you could turn the criticism into a positive situation for you or make it a light moment.

3. Turn the Negatives thrown at you into Positives

To keep a positive attitude even when feeling negative, you need to take control of your mind. Be strong mentally. Just as negativity is all around us, positivity is also there. The key takeaway here is to have a flexible mind.

If a situation turns out to be negative and less than what you expected, remain collected, sober, and figure out what you should do next. It’s easier to figure out Plan B when you are still collected.

It also helps to have positive comments for negative remarks thrown at you. Of course, you are not a computer with a line of thought for every word people feed into your ears. But having a word that turns out to be a negative remark for your good makes you feel much better.

Turning the negatives into positives also means pushing the negative thoughts out of your mind. Yes, they can pass by but don’t allow them to settle.

4. Avoid Self-Condemning Thoughts

Taking responsibility for your silly decisions or mistakes in life is good, but it’s never healthy to blame yourself. Tell me of one person who doesn’t make mistakes, and I will show you a ghost.

You must come to terms with the fact that every day in your life is an opportunity for you to rebuild your self-image. Whether you sucked or embarrassed yourself the day before, having the courage to pick yourself up and get moving is what makes the difference.

So, learn to keep a positive attitude by filling your mind with good thoughts about yourself.

For instance, if you are a believer and study the Christian Bible, then you must know Christ died for you on the cross while you were still a sinner.

Christ forgave you and imputed God’s righteousness on you. If you catch yourself sinning or falling into sin, always tell yourself you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, and eventually, you will be. Isn’t it written the righteous will live by faith?

Self-condemning thoughts hardly add any value to you but take out all the positivity in you, leaving you deflated. Think well about yourself.

5. Find Positivity Within you

My script about keeping a positive attitude may not help you if you don’t discover the positivity you carry within.

Further, we are born positive until we allow negative life experiences to shape our mentalities. If you carry positivity within you, negative situations or experiences will not linger on you for long because you will have to find another like environment to go to.

By nature, you are positive. But most people refuse to hold on to this reality and listen to what the world will tell them they are.

Put another way, you are God’s creation, fearfully and wonderfully made. Whether people categorize you as beautiful or ugly, it won’t negate the fact that God created you wonderfully. Find solace in the positivity within you.

6. Tell Yourself it Could be Worse

You could be the most pious person or a fugitive, but none of your statuses could make you immune to daily life challenges. Accidents occur in our lives from time to time. But somehow, you always find yourself alive again to tell your story.

The main issue is that we don’t have insurance for negative life events.

Anytime you find yourself in a situation that is so hard to bear, keep a positive attitude by always telling yourself you are lucky because it could have been worse.

To the best of my knowledge, the worst that could happen in your life is when you lose your life. Anything else that doesn’t kill strengthens you.

7. Find your Purpose in Life

The purpose is the reason why something exists. What’s the reason for your existence? The key to keeping a positive attitude is discovering why you exist.

Besides anything else, discovering your purpose in life is the greatest thing you’ll ever find. The world is full of successful people who are devoid of purpose. Despite the affluence and the mega lifestyle they live, they always find themselves unfulfilled and feeling empty.

Yes, money will make life easier for you, but it won’t fulfil you because you will keep looking for it even after you have made your billions. Come to think of it, materialism and fame also fall in the same category as money.

Your true purpose in life is not inward-facing. It’s outward. You are in the world for a reason; finding that reason is the best fulfilment.

What do people say about you? Or what do you find easier doing? Getting answers to these questions could kick-start your journey to discovering your purpose.

Summing Up

To keep a positive attitude is a matter of choice. You have the power to do it. Keeping a positive attitude is not all about smiling and looking good. It’s something deeper that comes from within you.

Make the choice today to observe the positive heart-warming list and see yourself live a life of a positive attitude.