Having a positive mindset can really help when you're going through a rough time in your life. It can be so easy to focus on all the bad things that happen and begin to hyper-fixate on these things. I tend to overthink and always think about what could go wrong, which ends up negatively harming my mental health. When something upsets me I will reflect on it for days, weeks, or even months and just replay it in my head like a traumatizing broken record player. This repetition of negative thoughts stops other thoughts from occupying my mind because I'm constantly worrying about one bad thing. Sometimes I feel like I can't let go of the negative thought unless I come up with some "solution" to fix it, which is not healthy at all because it forces me to deal with things in less than optimal ways.

Recently, I have found that positive affirmations, although corny, can really help. Telling myself that I am capable of overcoming negative thoughts and other difficult things life throws at me really helps me in the morning, which is when these negative thoughts really cloud my head. Furthermore, giving myself reassurance really helps when I feel like I'm not on the right path or I'm making a hard decision. I think most of all, realizing that everyone makes mistakes, and that one bad thing should not define my entire day or week, helped me most of all. Looking at life positively makes it easier to deal with things that would otherwise be difficult to face.

Every day I try to pause somewhere in the middle of the day and remind myself what I am grateful for and of the good things in my life at the moment. It's so easy to be sucked up into negativity, but I urge you to remind yourself of the positivity in life because it really makes a difference in terms of perspective.