You know those people that are always complaining about everything? They are the people that no one wants to be around because all they do is spread negativity. It is best to stay as far away from those kinds of people as possible. Unfortunately, those people are everywhere, and sometimes you just can't escape them. When you're stuck with them against your will, every moment you have to spend near them is detrimental to your health. Negativity is contagious. When you're surrounded by it all the time it starts to affect you and you slowly become more and more negative too.

But it is very important to remember in these situations to remain positive. You cannot let the negativity get to you; it will only bring you down. Of course, as is the case with most things, that is much easier said than done. Yes, it is hard work to stay positive, but if you think about it, giving in to negativity is much more taxing on your mind, body and soul.

I was never exactly the most positive person to begin with, but most of the people that I am required to spend the vast majority of my time with here at school are very negative people. Being around them so much is not at all helpful for me. But in an attempt to better myself and be a happier person I have discovered a few ways to remain positive amongst this sea of negativity.

Spend more time by myself. I've always spent a lot of time on my own, but I avoid social encounters with the negative people outside of school as much as I can. I spend a lot of time hanging out by myself in my room or I go out to the park or on little adventures in the city by myself.

Seek out the positive people and surround myself with them whenever possible. There are actually some people here at school that are not negative all the time. These people tend to be much more fun to be around and make me feel much happier. My positive friends, unfortunately, aren't the ones that I am constantly surrounded by, so I try to spend as much time with them as I can when I am able to.

Turn and walk away. Sometimes people come up to me and start complaining to me. They try to share their negativity with me, but I'm not interested. I don't want anything to do with those people in these situations. So whenever that happens I tend to just turn around and walk away from them and their negative energy.

Take the time to do things that I love, things that make me happy. These tend to be things I do by myself, but they help to keep me from sinking into negativity. When I'm feeling overwhelmed by negativity I like to do things that make me happy, like reading or playing ukulele or watching movies or talking to my best friend.

Don't concern myself so much with others' business. Focus on me. Whatever the newest topic of gossip in the group, if it doesn't concern me then it's none of my business. Now, this is kind of hard for me as I am a very curious and nosey person, but I still try my best to stay out of things that don't involve me. Instead, I try to refocus my energy on myself and what I want.

Practice gratitude. There are so many things to be grateful for and taking just a couple of minutes to think about those things will pull you right out of negative thoughts.

I am in no way free of my own negative thoughts, nor will I ever claim to be, but I am working hard every day to separate myself more and more from negativity and get closer to the happiness that I desire. Try replacing some of the negativity in your life with positivity and see how much freer and happier you will feel. You will be on your way to a better you.