Three Helpful Words that Improved My Outlook

As the leaves begin to fall, so does my mood. Have you noticed how we all function better with routine, yet as the seasons change, so do our routines. Mine are compounded due to a lack of sight. There are some words I believe can help you improve your outlook when frustrations try to ruin your day, or depression knocks at your door.

Summer’s sunshine gives more energy. That is until the heat becomes unbearable. Then, what energy we have to exert has to be utilized in the coolest part of the day. Siestas sound pretty good to me.

Fall brings more flexibility to our schedules with better weather, increased energy, and trading vacations for routines. Raking leaves is the worst part, until holiday baking and shopping arrive, leaving us broke and tired.

Winter is dependent on shorter days, less vitamin D, and waiting to warm up to tackle the extra work. Cabin fever, colds, and flus strike, stirring up depression in those, like myself, who don’t struggle with it any other time of year.

For the most part, I have learned how to beat the winter blues, but by the time the new year rolls around, I need extra help. I find myself searching for a word for the new year to live by, instead of resolutions I can’t keep. I hold on to this word like I do my Bible or my digital voice recorder.

The intent or purpose of this word is to help me focus so I can improve my outlook.
Words, by themselves, can’t replace memorizing God’s precious Word, yet can serve as a quick reminder and an easy focal point when busy, stressed, sad, worried, or depressed. Having something simple to keep your mind on, provides not only a distraction but a goal to strive for. They are most beneficial. They provided a life raft for me, preventing me from diving too far into depression.

I want to share my favorite three words, as they gave me hope and improved my outlook on life. Let’s take a look.

1. Positive

If you ask my friends, they would tell you I’m a positive person, but ask my husband, and you’d get a different response. Overall, my outlook is positive, but my initial reaction is negative. Positivity doesn’t come naturally for me. It doesn’t for the majority of personality types either, but one group is blessed. It just so happens, my husband and good friend, Robin, fall in that category.

The good thing is we can learn to become more positive. In fact, when I homeschooled my grandsons, I had them sit on the couch when hostile words went flying toward their brother. For every negative statement, they had to say three positive ones about their sibling.

It takes a conscious effort, like playing a game with yourself. I still haven’t prevented all negative thoughts from being my initial ones, but I am capable of keeping most of them silent. For example, finding a sharp knife in my dishwater, where someone overlooked my safety rule, causes anger to rise. Just as quickly, I force myself to be thankful.

“Thank you, Lord, for Your protection. I thank you for letting me find this without hurting myself.”

Focusing on anger creates bitterness. Unhealthy. Besides everyone has accidents or memory loss. Affirming optimistic thoughts, like this, releases the anger. Healthy.

Optimistic people are healthier physically and mentally than their counterparts. The way I see it, every thought tenses muscles, or relaxes them. In turn, wasting precious time or freeing you to be about Your Father’s business. It’s your choice.

Remember the  movie “Pollyanna?” Now, that girl could turn any negative statement into a positive one. She was optimism on steroids, which made you feel warm inside and put a smile on your face.

Would you prefer being around an optimistic person, like an encourager, or a pessimist who whines and complains about everything and everyone?

I don’t know about you, but that makes me not only tense, but I want to curl into a ball and hide for days. Positivity, on the other hand, unfolds me like a flower after the rain on a sunny day.

2. Productive

The actual definition of productivity is to create or generate some kind of goods or services. Rate or quantity isn’t a necessary factor. Simply put, one only has to produce to be productive. You could produce a meal, an activity, a painting, something energizing you, or an act of kindness. All, of which, make you feel good.

List-making is my hobby. Marking items off is well, difficult.

Throw in extra family and ministry demands when I’m less able to accomplish things during the winter, makes it hard not to dwell on being unproductive. This attitude would be impossible if I hadn’t spent a year learning to be more positive.

Counting over thirty items on my “To Do” list made it imperative to feel a sense of accomplishment.

This required redefining or lowering my standards a bit. This was a tough one, taking an entire year to practice newer expectations, which led to my next word.

No matter what, I did not want to be like Proverbs 12: 11 describes. It says:

A hard worker has plenty of food, but a person who chases fantasies has no sense.

3. Progress

Living as a blind person to an ADHD man means keeping busier than we’re capable. The same way some people’s eyes are bigger than their stomachs, my mind believes I can do more than my body actually can without sight. It’s a trap. Even saying, “NO,” many times over, our list grows quicker than completing items.

Instead of focusing on what’s left to do, I focus on progress. This not only improved my outlook but was a lifesaver for me. In our type of outreach ministry in addition to pastoring, meant more interruptions than not. Our life isn’t our own. As a result, my lists contained things two years back. In order to seriously ward off depression, I had to hang on to the silver lining, called progress. As long as the effort was put forth, it was considered progress.

Sickness, providing extra transportation, helping a homeless person get a motel or to the bus stop, or weather canceling out our plans, wasn’t important any longer. We made progress in spite of it, and I now could be happy.

On the bad days, I was satisfied if I bought groceries. That was progress because many days I was unable to find a ride, or as pastors, get a call to go to the hospital. Sometimes a week will go by where nothing was marked off my lists, but much was added. I search closely for progress and usually find it. Eventually, a week will have more progress.

Three years to learn to focus on three helpful words, but they’ve improved my outlook greatly. If you’re not positive, you won’t be able to be productive for any length of time. If you are productive, you will make progress. In this story called life, it doesn’t matter whether you’re the tortoise or the hare. Be positive and productive, so you will make progress for your family, community, and your Lord.

© 2019, Jena Fellers. All rights reserved.