I’m proud to say that one of my top 5 strengths is my positivity. People ask me all the time how I stay so positive, and until this year I never thought that much into it. I’m just happy to be here and grateful for life and the beauty that it brings.

I’ve always been the life of the party in my own way — an easy way to describe it is I’d always be the one at softball tournaments that had the boombox on my shoulder with a fresh burnt CD ready to roll. When I was in high school, I loved finding new ways to make football games and school events more fun. I was just looking for a photo of these huge banners we did for homecoming but I came across this one instead. We got someone to donate an old van and painted it to look like it was the spirit van of our opponent, the bulldogs.

We had a big bonfire and had football players and whoever wanted to take a sledgehammer and beat it up lol. It was so much fun! Those who know me best can attest to this – one of the most common sentences coming out of my mouth starts with “you know what would be fun….”

Being positive is who I am but it’s not who I always am. When you’re a person like me, people use your energy to their advantage. Everybody wants it. What hit me this year is that I would let my energy and positivity pour out of me like lava.

I told Ky recently that I actively have to suppress my need to help people and talk to people. He of all people knows it but also thinks it’s hilarious. If I’m checking out at the grocery store, I can’t help but talk to the cashier and give her a tip for this dressing I’m buying or ask her what her favorite show is. If you know my mother I definetly got this from her :).

I love and adore all people of the world and want to know everything I can about them. Every person walking this earth has something to offer and can teach you something. I feel lucky that my Uber drivers are usually from a far away country and they came here looking for a better life. I can leave happy hour with my friends and get in the car with a driver from Ethiopia for the next 20 minutes on the way home and learn something new.

I want to share tangible ideas that actually help me in tough times when I’m trying to pull myself out of something negative. Like I said, I’m not always happy go lucky, I feel things and have bad days. This year I’ve found myself upside down and cracked wide open as we all have, and I think for me it’s been double surged up growth mode because of my age/where I’m at in my life during it all.

The main thing I want to get across is that I don’t “stay” positive. If you’re feeling negative emotions I really don’t like it when people are like “stay positive it’ll get better!” because what that is is suppressing your emotions and not dealing with them. For me, that will come out later in an explosive way or in the past… in my relationship with food.

If you’re feeling like shit, negative, or are basically just trying to get through this year, don’t push it down. Don’t put it down into a little box and throw away the key. I’m telling you the key to my overall positivity is because I actually own and deal with my shit.

Ok here we go —

tips for staying positive:

+ find your boundaries and draw the line in the sand. 

Like I said, I have to actively suppress this but it’s something that’s really helped my mental health overall. Be aware of what you need. Figure it out, and those become non-negotiable MUSTS every single day. For me that’s getting 9 hours of sleep, daily movement, lots of whole nourishing foods, time with my husband, and alone time. It has to be worth it for me to miss one of these.

Boundaries sound like such a harsh thing but I’ve learned that if I don’t get alone time, I feel scrambled and disorganized. I enjoy being alone and it’s how I recharge, get inspired, and work. Alone time also sounds luxurious because I don’t have any kids yet but what I mean by that is time to connect with myself. This is usually only a 10 minute meditation and I think everyone can find 10 minutes. Protect your energy and make sure you check in with it.

+ make time for the things that make you happy.

for some reason a lot of people seem to think that they have to be the the last on the list to fill their cup but more and more I’m learning how important it is to take care of myself as much if not more than anyone else. I love cooking and whipping up random projects in my garage. I can get lost in time and space editing a video I have so much fun doing it.

When I was working my full time job, I still made time to do these things even if it was on the weekend or late at night. I often missed out on time with friends and family because of it but I was doin what I had to do. If your question is “how do I find the time to do x?” You’re asking the wrong question. If you want to do something, you will make the time. The same thing applies to entrepreneurship — if you want something bad enough you will do it. Let yourself want something bad and go fucking get it!! Although there has been sacrifice, making time for the things that make me happy has overall really helped me stay sane and positive because I’m creating and telling stories.

+ let yourself be inspired.

You can apply this one to any area of your life — in the kitchen, in the gym, with your marriage, whatever! Open your mind and let yourself be inspired. Shift your thinking and dream. Staying positive is all about mindset after all!!

I’m guilty of being negative myself when it comes to home decor/I wanted to have my house looking finished and cute so fast and when I started watching the home edit show I was like AGH But I don’t have a million dollars to do this!!!! Shift your thinking — be inspired at the dollar store and what you already have to make it happen. Even if you have no “product” getting into your closets and drawers and re-organizing will make you feel better either way.

+ be okay with looking stupid and owning who you are.

Once you really own the fact that you’re a human and are going to make mistakes it’s really a lot easier to glide through life, in my non-expert opinion of course lol. Most people struggle with getting started or making changes in their life because they are scared of being judged or what other people will think.

I talk about this all the time but specifically with this podcast I thought to myself – I can think about starting a podcast for another day or I can just start one. I don’t know what I’m doing but being willing to fumble through learning and finding what works for me is how I’ve accomplished so much. I’m being interviewed on a top 100 podcast this week already — ANYTHING is possible! You just have to trust yourself, be okay with falling down, and own that only you know what you know and can offer.

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There are 1,000 ways you can skin a cat – what are your tips to stay positive?