The first thing everyone asks each other on the New Year is, “What is your New Year’s Resolution?” For a lot of the population, it’s a pretty standard response. Some people focus on dieting, while others meet goals within their careers or improve their physical fitness. When I was asked what my New Year’s Resolution is, I had anything but a standard response: “My New Year’s Resolution is to be Positive.” I am positive in every aspect of my life, to enjoy the ups and find a positive spin on the downs, and to see the beauty in each day.

The world can seem so down, especially after the last few years we’ve all had, but we could all use positivity!

To embrace my resolution of positivity,  I searched far and wide for outlets to help me see the positive aspects of the world, and here is what I learned:

Start The Day With A Positive Quote

I have a small whiteboard in my kitchen; before, I was tasked with keeping track of my many life events. Now, I find a positive quote I can write daily. Now, instead of seeing the many tasks of the day, I enjoy one simple task: think positively!

Need help in finding inspirational and uplifting quotes? The following links offer great quotes to start your own day out positively.

www.brainyquotes.com

http://www.inc.com/peter-economy/21-positive-quotes-that-will-powerfully-influence-your-life-and-work.html

Be The Positive 

I have found the more positivity that I show, the more others around me also embrace it. Kind of like when you yawn, and then the person next to you has to yawn, and even if they didn’t want to, it happens anyway. So go out into the world and share a bit of happiness, give a compliment; it really will change the day for someone.

Realize Nothing Is Perfect and Social Media Is Not Reality

Television, magazines, and the internet are some of the worst instigators of self-hate. They point out the flaws in everyone, all the while airbrushing beauty into our daily lives. Have you ever wanted to look just like the woman on the cover of a magazine? I always strived to be like that. To have a perfect body, with perfect hair, and just be overall perfect. But perfection DOES NOT EXIST!!!! I have a friend who is a photographer; she edits photos for a living. One day I was feeling quite down and she showed me videos of editing where an old woman was transformed via Photoshop into a young woman. She even showed me a video of a piece of pizza transformed into a beautiful model. A literal slice of pepperoni pie turned into a woman, all by photo editing. You can watch the videos for yourself here:

Pepperoni to Model: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnvoz91k8hc

100-Year-Old Lady to Young Lady: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA_dXDRkP9s

I never could have even imagined the impact photo editing could have on my personal image. Since she had shown me those images and videos, I have learned no one is perfect.

Say Goodbye 

Embrace the things you don’t love about yourself and perhaps even change them; say goodbye to sadness, comparison, self-doubt… there’s no room for that here!!

Love Yourself

Instead, embrace you, the real you. I encourage everyone to spend some time this New Year loving you, throwing away negative thoughts, and realizing how wonderful and awesome you are. Take time to indulge yourself in you, find your passion.

I hope you have a wonderful 202 for each person. A New Year brings new dreams! Stay positive, love one another, and love yourself!

photo credit: www.brainyquote.com