The Negative Noise
November is almost gone. Just three days until Thanksgiving, another 10ish days until the last month of the year, 3 and a half weeks (approximately) until I get married, and 5ish weeks to go until the start of a new year. Hello November 20th.
I've been pretty sick with bronchitis for the majority of this month (Yeah. That's been fun. Not.) and it's caused me to, at times, feel pretty sorry for myself. Why can't I stop coughing? Why can't I just get better? What on earth are my co-workers going to think because I have to take ANOTHER sick day? Why do I have to keep going back to the doctor? You get the idea. It's all been so....negative.
Don't you just get tired of being negative after a while? I do.
What's more, have you noticed how you start to feel the more you hang around consistently negative people? Pretty sure I don't have to spell that out here. However, I came across a passage in Scripture the other day, and it was enough to give me somewhat of an answer to that question:
"The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences." -Proverbs 18:21
I'm focusing on that first part: "The tongue can bring death or life." That's a pretty powerful statement. But isn't it true? They say "sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me", but I think that's a load of baloney. Words hurt. Words cut deep. But for me, it's more than just words: I think our attitudes can also bring death or life.
Think about it: How about instead of grumbling about our jobs, we stop and be thankful for the fact that we have a job at all? How about instead of complaining about someone you work with, try to get to know them. Instead of ranting on Facebook about someone, maybe pray for them. Instead of fussing about the bills, stop and consider that your basic needs are being met.
I'm not saying don't complain. I'm not saying don't get frustrated. We can complain and we can be frustrated, but we can choose how we respond to the frustrations.
Something I want to try to do is to stop and think about one good thing that happened to me in my day. I haven't tried it yet, but I want to, and I have a feeling it will change my sometimes crappy and negative attitude. Come on, it's Thanksgiving coming up. Certainly we all have a little something to be thankful for :) How about we try to drown out the negative noise with some positive noise?
I've been pretty sick with bronchitis for the majority of this month (Yeah. That's been fun. Not.) and it's caused me to, at times, feel pretty sorry for myself. Why can't I stop coughing? Why can't I just get better? What on earth are my co-workers going to think because I have to take ANOTHER sick day? Why do I have to keep going back to the doctor? You get the idea. It's all been so....negative.
Don't you just get tired of being negative after a while? I do.
What's more, have you noticed how you start to feel the more you hang around consistently negative people? Pretty sure I don't have to spell that out here. However, I came across a passage in Scripture the other day, and it was enough to give me somewhat of an answer to that question:
"The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences." -Proverbs 18:21
I'm focusing on that first part: "The tongue can bring death or life." That's a pretty powerful statement. But isn't it true? They say "sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me", but I think that's a load of baloney. Words hurt. Words cut deep. But for me, it's more than just words: I think our attitudes can also bring death or life.
Think about it: How about instead of grumbling about our jobs, we stop and be thankful for the fact that we have a job at all? How about instead of complaining about someone you work with, try to get to know them. Instead of ranting on Facebook about someone, maybe pray for them. Instead of fussing about the bills, stop and consider that your basic needs are being met.
I'm not saying don't complain. I'm not saying don't get frustrated. We can complain and we can be frustrated, but we can choose how we respond to the frustrations.
Something I want to try to do is to stop and think about one good thing that happened to me in my day. I haven't tried it yet, but I want to, and I have a feeling it will change my sometimes crappy and negative attitude. Come on, it's Thanksgiving coming up. Certainly we all have a little something to be thankful for :) How about we try to drown out the negative noise with some positive noise?
Comments
Post a Comment