Negativity makes you tired

Negativity is an easy emotion. A lazy emotion.

If emotions were people, negativity would be taking a nap on the couch at ten in the morning. It takes absolutely no effort to simply dismiss everything as a problem. The alternative is just a hassle… Behaviour has too many consequences!

Positivity requires Energy.

Have you ever considered flipping that sentence around? Let’s read it back to front.

Energy requires Positivity.

Wait, that doesn’t make sense, does it? I didn’t think so either, until I came across a research study that was recently published. Two authors recently did some work to understand the psychology around what we hear and how our mind reacts to it. These guys have PhDs, so they probably know what they’re talking about.

The study involved comparing  employees’ expression of concern, criticism and negativity to their expression of positivity – stuff like suggesting improvement and focusing on achieving positive outcomes. The result:

Negativity makes us tired. Negativity is not the result of fatigue, it’s the cause of fatigue.

That sucks, because  we’re made responsible for the way we feel, and responsibility takes even more effort than being positive. Humans are such lazy beings.

It’s still worth putting in the effort to start thinking more positive and saying more positive things. Especially now that it’s proven you’ll feel better! How much energy we feel shapes what we focus on and how we act, and that energy needs to be fueled by positive thought, positive speech and positive actions. There’s no way around it!

Try to look at problems with a positive outlook. This will already equip you with the energy you need to deal with the problem at hand. It’s also important to consider that the negative things you say affect those around you in a negative manner, and they will in turn affect you negatively – it’s just a vicious cycle of bad vibes all around.