Maintaining a Positive Outlook

At times it seems easy to let ourselves become overwhelmed with the stresses of our day-to-day lives. With extra workloads, personal relationship drama or even economic/ financial stress, some people can find their own problems too much to handle. Sometimes we don’t have control of the external factors of our lives, but what we do have control over is how we conduct ourselves during times of difficulty. Do we remain positive and happy, or do we let our problems get the better of us?

Letting go of our emotions completely and focusing on the negatives in our lives creates a sense of hopelessness and has potential to lead to depression. Even with mild cases of depression, it has been proven that an individual’s mental state has a significant effect on one’s productivity. How many times have you sat down to do work after having a bad day and say to yourself “I do not feel like doing this right now.”? People who are under a lot of stress also put their immune systems in risk as well, making themselves more susceptible to illness. More illness leads to more sick days, leading to even less productivity.
In contrast, people who are generally happy and who maintain a positive outlook on life have been proven more productive. A more productive worker is more likely to be noticed for advancements at work and has potential to earn more money. Happy people’s bodies also produce beta-endorphins and enkephalins which block sensations of pain to the brain and can help fight off illnesses. Meaning that happier people also end up healthier. The biggest difference between the two scenarios in most cases is CHOICE.

For the past two months I have been following updates on a customer’s friend who’s 4-year-old son has been battling cancer for the past year. This concerned father described in great detail how his son was battling pain far beyond anything that we could comprehend and spent a majority of the past year in and out of hospitals. He was on 350 times a regular dose of opiates for a child his size on top of enough Ketamine to knock a grown man out for major surgery, and still it did nothing for his pain. For a child of this age to go through this is heartbreaking, and to read how this father stood helplessly as his son writhed in pain is heart-destroying. This man had every right to be frustrated at the world and to be overwhelmed by grief and sadness. However, the most beautiful part of reading this man’s story was that he made the choice to express all of the great and amazing things that he and his family were able to experience throughout every month. He compiled a list every month from A to Z of all of the great moments of laughter that they were all able to share, the wonderful times at Canuck Place, or even the chance to fall asleep cuddling his son. The strength that this man possesses to maintain a positive outlook is not only inspiring but infectious, spilling over to his family, friends, complete strangers (myself) and mostly onto his dying son as everyone tries to deal with this situation.

This story really put into perspective how small any of my problems really are. It highlighted that dwelling on being upset is useless and that no matter how bad I think I might have it there is always someone who has it 100 times worse. So although it may not always be easy, I CHOOSE to stay happy.

Cory MacDonald