A buddy was offered a promotion
in a more prestigious department.
When he shared this with loved ones,
one family member responded with
“Sounds like your boss
is trying to get rid of you.”
That was a ridiculous comment
but this family member’s negativity
sucked much of the happiness
out of his announcement.
We all know completely negative people.
They’re not simply negative about certain ideas.
They’re negative about EVERYTHING.
The first thing I do
when faced with a negative person
is accept who they are.
Being negative works for them somehow.
That’s why they’re negative.
I’m never going to change them,
no matter what I do
or whatever proof I have to the contrary.
I then avoid these people.
Being negative works for them.
Being around negative people
doesn’t work for me.
When times are good,
I want to enjoy the good times.
When times are bad,
I don’t need nonconstructive
gloom and doom.
If I can’t avoid negative people
(because I’m related to them),
I keep my hopes and dreams
and anything else that is precious
to myself.
When asked about my business,
I’ll change the subject.
Sometimes I’ll make a game
out of out-negativing them
or I’ll count the number of times
they say won’t or never.
Completely negative people exist.
Develop your own coping methods
for dealing with them.