Every day my mom would drop me off before school, and every day as I opened the car door, she would remind me of two things; she loved me and to stay positive. Looking back, I see the importance of positivity both then and now. I feel there are brief moments in our lives where having both a positive mindset and outlook are determining factors of our futures. In addition to brief moments, I also feel there are extended periods of time throughout our lives where continuous positivity is slowly, carefully, and intentionally shaping us and our futures. These brief moments and extended periods of time will eventually be remembered as our defining moments, they are intricately layered within our lives, and they are not always obvious--which is why a positive attitude will be beneficial in more ways than we can count. With that, let's set a few things straight about what a variation of a positive attitude might look like.

1. "Finding the silver lining can be tough, it's easier just to throw myself a pity party."

If you haven't already, please do yourself a favor and ditch that thought, it's time. If something is easy, it won't be worth it; if something is worth it, it won't be easy. Challenge yourself to become the best version of who you are. I believe you have what it takes to see beyond the difficulties staring you in the face, dig a little deeper and push yourself to do it. It is amazing how gratifying, inspiring, and invigorating it feels when you push yourself to see what good can come from a bad situation. After all, without pressure, carbon wouldn't turn into diamond.

2. Be the light you wish to see in the world.

100 times, YES! I have been called "annoyingly happy" before and I am perfectly okay with it and in fact, I embrace it. I wake up each morning grateful to be blessed with another day and I do my best to make the most of it. I am not saying I want everyone to be like me--I think this gigantic world of our's can only handle one of me anyway, haha--but I would certainly love it if everyone else could join in and say they also did their best. Our best won't always be enough, and that's okay! Other days, our "best efforts" won't be as good as another day's "best efforts" and that's okay too. I feel as long as we do our best each day to make our beautiful world an even better place we can do some pretty amazing things together.

3. Be open to change.

Unless you're perfectly fine living the rest of your life exactly as it is, be open to change. You have an end goal in mind, I know you do, but the path you take to get there may not be what you thought because chances are it will be better. Who knows, changes in your path could foster the journey of a lifetime, they could bring you to a whole new goal, or both! You just never know and that's why it is important to focus your attention on the good.

4. Negativity is draining.

In all ways. The way I see it, negativity is an extremely heavy, exhausting, and blinding black hole. The thought alone is daunting and discouraging. I can only imagine how hard it would be to get anything done with such toxicity.

5. Positivity is energizing.

Also in all ways. Positivity, as I envision it, is a sunny, uplifting, empowering, irresistible, and never-ending adventure. It's that one thing you can't ever seem to have too much of and it's cleansing. I have no doubt we can accomplish anything we set our minds to if we are positive. All of a sudden, we are doing things for ourselves and not relying on others to do them for us.

We have all experienced the strains of life and we have also all survived. We have been impacted by these deeply and broadly. We have emerged as new people. We have not let them destroy or define us, we let them strengthen us. We are better people for it and the difference was the power of being positive.

The same water that hardens eggs softens potatoes. It's not about the circumstances, it's about what you're made of.