In your journey through life you will encounter some people whose sole purpose seems to be to try to suck the life energy out of you. They seem to always look on the negative side of things. They don’t just see the glass as half empty; they look at the full glass and are sad because they understand that it will soon be empty. They are draining to be around. Their life is one tragedy after another and the funny thing is, if you ask them, most of them will tell you that they are happy people with a positive outlook on life (it’s just everyone else who is the problem).
My advice: Avoid these people at all costs, if you can (easier said than done).
For a lot of us, though, the negative comes from within. That nagging voice inside our head that is constantly telling us that we are not good enough in one way or another, that we don’t deserve what we have worked so hard to get, that we are fooling everyone and soon we will be exposed for the fraud that we really are (impostor syndrome). I refer to this internal voice of self sabotage as “The Drunk Monkey”. I first learned about the Drunk monkey listening to an interview with Matthew Ferry (for more on that subject https://meetthedrunkmonkey.com/home). Some of the best advice I have heard about dealing with the drunk monkey is to acknowledge that he may be correct but do what you are going to do anyway. Someone has to start that business or do that thing, why not you? I think the impostor syndrome comes in when you start getting accolades for what you are doing and you don’t feel worthy. You feel like you are just a normal person. If they think you walk on water, I say don’t fret about it, just smile, say “Thank you”, let it go and get back to work.
Remember: Your past does not have to be your future. Keep a positive outlook on life and keep moving forward. It’s okay to change your course if you want to, just keep moving forward. Because to not move is to stagnate (and that ain’t cool). Cheers!