POSITIVITY AND MAKING THE MOST OF EVERY DAY

Would you say you lived for the weekend? Do you hate Mondays? Did you know that if you spend 5 days a week waiting for the weekend, you're spending around 70% of your time wishing your life away?

Yesterday, I posted a few polls on Instagram, asking my followers to rate their general positivity levels and the results, as you can see below were super interesting! On average, most people rated how they feel about Mondays and their mood on a work morning pretty low and agreed strongly with the phrase 'I live for the weekend', but rated themselves very highly when asked how positive their attitude generally. I found this really quite interesting, because while many people seem to hate Mondays and be in a fairly low mood before work (on average, 5 days a week!), they still considered themselves to be positive in general.

I'm not saying this is a bad thing at all, if anything, I think it's great that people still feel pretty happy despite these things, but it does get me thinking, surely if these otherwise positive people could maybe adjust their mindset a little, they could spread their good vibes throughout the entire week and start living for every day rather than a rather small percentage of the week! So, with this in mind, I'm going to share a few tips that help me to feel more positive and to enjoy every day!

Start each day with a positive thought

I know, I know, it's massive cliche, but something as simple as waking up and telling yourself that you're about to have a great day can massively improve your mood. Thinking negatively and focusing on the bad things can have a huge impact on your mindset right from the beginning of you day. No matter what lies ahead, try thinking 'today will be a good day' before you even get out of bed. It's amazing what a difference it can make, honest!

Make the most of every moment

Sometimes, you have to do things that you wouldn't necessarily choose to do, that's life, while there may be several things you'd rather be doing, there's no reason why you can't make the best of every moment. Maybe you're crazy busy at work, but again, a simple change of mindset can do wonders. Accept and enjoy the challenging times, breathe and relax in moments you'd typically find a bit dull and boring. Enjoy talking to your colleagues, grab the opportunity to learn new things in your job (or school!) every day.

This doesn't only apply to worky things, but to leisure time too. Do you find that you're in a rut all week? Wake up, Work, Home, Eat, Sleep, Repeat. Sound familiar? Stop! Make midweek plans, go the pub on a Wednesday night, have a cinema date on a Monday. There are so many hours that you could fill doing things you love all week long, not just on Friday night and the weekend.

Stay present

This point relates nicely to the last point of making the most of every moment. Sometimes, it's really easy to wish the time away and keep thinking of Friday or of 5pm, but staying in the moment and accepting for what it is helps you to stay focused and of course, you'll feel less negative if you're not wishing you were somewhere else! Perhaps you're at work doing a task that's driving you a bit mad. In these sort of situations, I stop for a second and think about how accomplished I'll feel when I'm done. I focus there and then on the task and work as hard as I can and sometimes, I even come to enjoy the challenge! Even more mundane tasks like doing the washing up have a sense of accomplishment at the end, whatever you're doing, have your end goal in mind and take pride in working hard at the things you don't necessarily love doing while you're doing them.

Be grateful

Another cliche, sorry! It's important though to remember how much you have to be thankful for. It's easy to forget the little things when you're caught up in wishing your situation was different, but when things get tough, try to stop for a moment and think. You may be at school wishing the bell would ring, but right now, you're sitting, learning new things, broadening your knowledge and mind.You might be a work on Tuesday, counting down the hours until Friday, but think about the reasons you like your job and why you applied in the first place. And if you don't like your job, think about why you're there and be grateful for the experience you're gaining and how that'll help you in future when you look for a new role.

Accept the bad

Despite having a generally optimistic outlook on life and being a huge advocate of a positive mental attitude, I'm not completely on another planet and I do know that some days are just basically crap. While I'll always push to look for the good in every situation, it's sometimes good to just accept the bad times, roll with it, have a cry if you need to. You don't always need to be super strong and sunny about everything. It's healthy to feel sad and to let your emotions run free. Talk to people you love, vent on twitter, do what you've gotta do. Letting yourself feel negative emotions without feeling bad or embarrassed about it is as important to a positive mindset as any of these other points. Just when you're feeling better again, pick yourself up and do things to help yourself stay better, see your friends, watch a movie, have a bubble bath - just don't wait for the weekend to do so!

That's all for now! I hope you enjoyed this post, this is a topic I could go on and on about for days, so if you'd like to see more posts like this, please do let me know.

As always, my DMs are always open on instagram (@chloesway) if you fancy a chat or if you've got anything to add on this topic, I'd love to hear your opinions!

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