A post of mine has got some people talking. It was comparing how it was when people were young to how it is today. This ranges from friends, family, life, money, government, etc. The census is that as they age, they feel less happy with how their life is going. What has caused people to take a turn for the worst and take a healthy dose of pessimism? If you pay any attention to the news or politics, you will know that we are in a pandemic due to a Covid 19 outbreak. What this has caused was to take people’s freedoms and livelihoods away. In today’s blog, I want to help you get back to that positive thinking you had at one point in your life.

If you are one of the few, who had and kept their positive mindset, this blog can still benefit you. There is a story of a man who had a positive attitude. He was happy and enjoyed life. One day this man was in an accident, and he lost all feeling from the waist down. The doctor told him that he would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. The man fell into depression and gave up hope of walking again. One day his father came to visit him in the hospital and could not recognize his son.

The father begins to ask his son where the man before the accident go. The father went on to tell his son what a positive mind he had before the accident and that there was nothing he couldn’t do. When the father left that night, the son had time alone to think about what he would do. Would he continue to remain depressed or get his old mindset back? The next day the man started to practice positive habits and thinking and did not fathom he wouldn’t be able to walk again. He went through his therapy sessions, and with time he was able to regain the ability to walk with a cane.

In that story, what was summarized to get to the point is that you are the person who can make anything happen. Sometimes you find out you have this power late in life, but many of us learn that power when we are young. We think we are unstoppable and invincible until the day we get knocked down and fear sets in. I was not always this positive in my life. Growing up, I would say I was afraid to fail more than I was willing to succeed. That fear immobilized me. It wasn’t until High-school did I start to see the trends in my mind. I was still afraid to fail, but not as much. Then college came, and my whole life changed for the better. That fear of failing was no longer prominent.

When I look back at the world when I was young, I can see both the good and the bad, how the brain can even remember past traumas and be OK with them. Though growing up is not easy for everyone, the same can be said in your adult life. We have problems to take care of each day. We have to decide if we will let those problems consume us or make us stronger and wiser. To become better equipped to battle what the world is trying to throw at us. That is what happened to the man in the story. The world knocked him down, and the doctors told him he wouldn’t be able to get back up, but he was reminded by his father he could get up if he chose to do so.

How you see the world then vs. now is dependent on what you are willing to allow. This means if you allow a negative mindset to permeate your life and your days, then that will be your constant. You can change this by mentally fortifying yourself and dealing with the problems you have in your life. I find that many people are willing to throw their concerns in a dark corner or sweep them under the rug and hope they will resolve them independently. However, this causes unnecessary fear in your life. That fear then causes you to become unmotivated, and thus, it is considered harmful in the end.

When we, as people, become limited and without options, we become depressed. That is why therapy, mentorship, and life coaching are so necessary right now. It is not that people cannot get to that place on their own; it will take longer for them to get to that positive place in life alone. I know this is the truth because if you ask anyone who sees a therapist/life coach, they will say how much they have benefited from working with them. I understand it can cause a time constraint or an additional financial burden, but there should be no cost too great when investing in your mental health.

When you were young, your mental health may have been positive, and now you are negative. This is due to several factors. One will be the constant conditioning of negative information. Can you turn on the news and not find a station that is not talking about people dying, food shortages, higher costs of living, who to hate, or what to be angry at next? The news did a great job training their loyal watcher to become brainwashed. The repetitive nature of watching the news and what is happening in the world around you can cause you to turn negative, though once positive.

If the news has the power to turn you negative, what can turn you positive again? The answer is that you must choose to live how you want to live. Do you want to live in fear or be free from it? That choice will help you understand your first step. The next step is to identify your belief/truth. That is going to determine the route you take to get to the mindset you will have. Once you have those two, you have to pay attention if you want other people to believe your truth or allow them to accept theirs. I say this because when you have a different opinion than someone else, it has the potential to pit you as an enemy.

Society has done a great job of making enemies out of races, cultures, and religions. If someone has a different viewpoint than you do, it is an all-out war. That war is not only raging in real life but in your mind as well. That is why people are finding that the past is better than the present. I like to ask clients the question, “What is one thing you would do differently if you had a time machine?” I keep asking what next until it has nothing to do with money. The reason is that we are conditioned to believe that a certain level of success(money) will bring us happiness.

I am sure I will get sob stories of how difficult this time has been for people. I know firsthand these past two years haven’t been easy, but if I can make it work, so can you. These past two years were the best two years of my life from a financial standpoint. It can become tricky when you add family to the mix because no one wants to see their loved ones suffer or pass away. That was the reality for many people these years. It may have strengthened their disdain for what is going on and those who do not take Covid seriously, but that disdain is their problem. Holding onto that type of energy will only burden you and make your life miserable long term. You are worried about people you should not worry about, and you are becoming anxious about what may happen in your life.

When we are young, we are not so much concerned with the day-to-day. We are more concerned about school, friends, television, fashion, and the internet. That list may have been different for you when you were younger, but just be aware that that list was there. That list has changed, did it not? You have become more focused and your priorities now than what they were in the past. You will have a hard time moving forward if you are holding onto beliefs that will not serve you. This Covid belief is genuine, but you should not let your life be at the mercy of an illness.

This virus was not created to kill massive amounts of people. The truth there is that the survival rate is drastically higher than the mortality rate. However, the human brain is naturally negative, so you will see the deaths and think the world is ending. I was concerned for my grandparents and if they got it because they were getting old. Well, each of them got Covid and lived. They did not take any vaccine or feel their lives were at risk, but the world tells us the opposite, just like that doctor in the story who told the man that he would not walk again. It is you who chooses your destiny.

If your destiny is to stay at home and be upset that people are not getting a vaccine, not wearing a mask, or are not practicing social distancing, you have the problem. That person who is living their life the way they see fit is not concerned about your beliefs. Now, I am a huge advocate for doing what is in your best interest. If you believe that a vaccine will save you or need to stay away from the vaccine, I will respect your decision. I am not here to play the judge game. I am here to help people get out of a negative mindset and look for the positive in their lives. Life starts to feel worth it with a more focused and positive mind.

In closing, when we were young, we had all these hope, dreams, and aspirations of what could be. Then as we got older, we were faced with the reality of how the world is. The aftermath of that realization will be what you decide for your future. Will you take what the world gives you, or would you dare to go after your wildest dreams? Dare not to stop, no matter the challenges and obstacles you will face. What is the most significant difference in your thinking when you were young vs. now? Are you in a better place, or do you wish you had a time machine? We have to let today, and each day after, become our new beginning. Do not allow your current life to continue to go down the drain. Get back what you lost, and become more confident in your future.

Until then,

Michael Rearden

Founder of RevenLLC.