Keep on the Sunny Side

My family recently received some disheartening news. However, instead of asking why me? and drowning in a sea of sorrow and despair, everyone has been very positive. And it got me thinking, why does it take something life changing for us to realize that we need to be more positive about the outlook of life? We are never guaranteed tomorrow, so why should we spend today worrying about it? (I feel like that is most likely some paraphrase of something I've read before...) I feel like we live in a society that focuses on downfalls and negativity. We focus on our shortcomings instead of our accomplishments. Do we enjoy being stressed out? Do we like the rush of panic and then the brief calm after the storm? If not, why do we put ourselves through it? Is it because we think we are supposed to follow certain paths because that is what society tells us to do? I feel like I waste a lot of my thoughts and words on complaining. I'd like to change that. There's a lot of shit in this world, so why should I try and add to it unnecessarily? Perhaps I'm being unrealistically optimistic, but is it wrong to want to have a happy life? I'm not saying I want to live in some weird little bubble and pretend that life is all wonderful and everything is perfect, but I just don't want to spend anymore time thinking about the negative things in life. Is that bad? I don't know. I am not longing for naivete; I just like getting the most out of things. So today I leave you with a small challenge-the next time you start to freak out over something, ask yourself how much of a difference it's going to make in your big picture and if it's really worth spending so much precious time dwelling on it and then either do something to change/fix it or stop complaining-it only brings you and others down.