“Staying positive does not mean everything will turn out okay. Rather, it means you will be okay no matter how things turn out.” — Unknown
If there is one key message from this calendar year, it’s to always stay optimistic about your present circumstances and future prospects. While it has been challenging for everyone in calendar year 2020 and much of the world went into lockdown for a good portion of the year, business and life managed to continue. Americans’ ability to adapt to a new “work-from-home” reality, aided by video conferencing software, made that possible despite the challenges of the pandemic.
“Choose to be optimistic, it feels better.”—Dalai Lama
Thus, it is important to keep a more positive outlook in life and try, as difficult as it may seem, not to focus on the many negative things that surround us. One simple and effective method regarding tuning out the negative bombardment is to disengage from social media and ignore the entertainment media sensationalize news.
Holiday season
During times of stress, it’s especially important to set time aside for self-care.
Although celebrating this holiday season will look and feel different, know that ongoing public health efforts to manage the pandemic eventually will succeed. So, it’s important to stay upbeat and positive that choices made today will help everyone in the future.
Furthermore, this holiday season is a great opportunity to connect (or reconnect) with family and friends, and share some much-needed positivity and hope. Just because things are dramatically different this year does not mean that it’s a disappointment. It’s just different.
Eventually, everyone will be able to get back together to celebrate the season with the usual traditions, but maybe some new traditions will have been learned along the way, as well.
“To live a fulfilled life, we need to keep creating the ‘what is next’, of our lives. Without dreams and goals there is no living, only merely existing, and that is not why we are here.” —Mark Twain
In that vein, it’s important to never discount human resiliency and American ingenuity. Through every crisis, new successes have emerged. General Electric was launched in 1892 by Thomas Edison as the nation was heading into the Panic of 1893. In 1929, Disney emerged during the Great Depression. Hewlett-Packard was founded in 1939 right after the recession of 1937–1938, when GDP declined by approximately 19%. Fred Smith started FedEx at the end of the 1969-1970 recession, when many companies were hesitant about spending money on new products and services, commented Craig Sawchuk, Ph.D., co-chairs the Division of Integrated Behavioral Health at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. The worst of times is often when the entrepreneurial spirit is most creative.
In his 2005 commencement address at Stanford University, Steve Jobs said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
People will be reflecting on the year 2020 for decades. However, you need to trust that with a positive outlook, you will become a better person and a more prudent investor because of the challenges you faced over the past year.
Look around you. Appreciate what you have. Nothing will be same in a year. pic.twitter.com/WKpO7RlQEl
— Power of Positivity (@LIVEpositivity) December 7, 2020
Staying optimistic and staying healthy are the very best things you can do during the upcoming holiday season. Furthermore, keep those who have been affected directly by the pandemic in your thoughts and prayers, and show gratitude to those who are putting themselves and their health at risk to keep this country and world moving forward.
If you want to be happy. you have to be happy on purpose. When you wake up, you can't just wait to see what kind of day you'll have. You have to decide what kind of day you'll have -Joel Osteen
— Power of Positivity (@LIVEpositivity) December 8, 2020
References:
- https://communityhealth.mayoclinic.org/featured-stories/navigating-holiday-season/?utm_source=ECHwebsite&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=navigating-holiday-season&utm_content=Twitter
- https://www.kiplinger.com/investing/601852/8-investing-lessons-learned-in-2020
Craig Sawchuk, Ph.D., co-chairs the Division of Integrated Behavioral Health at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. He is a professor of psychology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science.