Negative is normal right now. We're all burnt out, we're all sick of working from home, Covid is fading but its been an extreme time. Plus some people have made loads of money while we watch front line workers basically dying doing their job. Meanwhile the summer heat was just too much and we're watching the planet die. All the while we've been restricted from seeing work colleagues, friends and family. How can you not be negative?
Here are my views to try and answer in good faith, "How can you not be negative?" as someone who feels positively:
>"Plus some people have made loads of money while we watch front line workers basically dying doing their job."
Yes, that is terrible. But to be really honest, I haven't really thought about it much because none of this directly affects me. I don't follow the news as much, and I'm not close to any front line workers. It's abstractly terrible, but I haven't turned negative because of it.
>"Meanwhile the summer heat was just too much and we're watching the planet die."
I vote in favour of parties who support climate measures, but besides that, I'm not in a position where I can do meaningful activism to enact policy changes to materially curb climate change. In the meantime, I don't believe my personal behaviours make too big of an impact on the environment, in comparison to emissions and waste from major companies, countries, and militaries, so I don't feel guilt about my actions. The rest is not up to me.
>"All the while we've been restricted from seeing work colleagues, friends and family."
I don't miss my old work colleagues, and have actually gotten along really well with a couple new people who I've only seen once in-person (rest via text and video chat). I only really have one or two friends. I'm not too close with my family.
So in short, I don't really think about most of these world issues. The biggest issues directly affect me, via working from home and restriction from seeing others. For the former, life is returning to normal at work. For the second, I learned to be happy by myself, and I'm a lot calmer because of it.
Hmm maybe the answer would be to be negative about things you can actually influence, and not bother with things you cannot. That's quite zen, if you want.
I also believe that sharing interests - here a drink (even if non-alcoholic) or a sport is a great way to find minds alike. Meetups are a very convenient and very underrated online tool helping the lonely soul with that.
While I see your points, your statements are - as you said yourself - a good example of negativity. Covid for me personally was not that hard on me. I got to spend more time with my wife and less with colleagues at work while working remote. My commute dropped to zero, I had much more free time at hands. I got to work out indoor and outdoor whenever possible. Dropped 60 pounds from March 2020, after entering the first lockdown. I even got tighter with my family during these times. And I could finally tackle some of the projects I had left for dead.
I cannot claim to be the epitome of positivity though. I have to work on my views of people in general. Anti-Vaxxers and climate change have left me with deep emotional cuts, consider it weltschmerz.
Are you by any chance driven by outside 'pings'? Extrovert people that rely on direct feedback from others really had/have a bad time. Maybe this realisation or thinking about it may help you understand why you are feeling this way. In the end, every negative situation e.g. a global pandemic, need some form of personal resilience. How to get there is unfortunatley on you to figure out.
All of those things are incredibly positive. Think about how much lower the carbon footprint is now that so many have died.
Imagine knowing how the world ends and thinking it’s awful when you’ll be alive to see it. Will the oceans drown everything or will it become an oven / steam room. What a mystery and the answers will be revealed to you and only you.
