At this point in my life, and because of my experiences, I have more confidence to be who I want to be than ever before. That kind of wisdom, to believe in yourself and cherish each day, only comes after living through struggle-to-strength moments. You must have a few down times in your life to cherish the good times. You learn to prioritize what you have time in your life for and what you do not. 

I no longer have time for careless negativity and neither should you. It zaps your precious energy. Like a vacuum, negativity sucks dreams right from your core.  If you allow negativity to have a foothold in your life, you will have a difficult time kicking it away.

When I started to be active on social media, I occasionally received criticism for my positive and enthusiastic approach to life and martial arts. Careless and ridiculous comments rolled in. Even worse, strangers I didn’t even know threatened to “ruin me” online for no apparent reason. I never understood it. Why, in the midst of a positivity mission, was I being blasted into negative space?

Still, it didn’t stop me because I knew what I wanted. I had to thicken my skin in order to take control. I began ignoring, deleting, and blocking those who wanted to thwart my positive approach. I decided that what anyone else had to say had nothing to do with my outreach or mission. Only I could define it or create it.  My approach is if you think you are not living to your potential or you feel down about yourself, then a positive word can make all the difference, and that is exactly why I am here.

This is another life lesson, as well. Being you, and I mean really you (the unique and unlike any other you) takes bravery. It takes time, patience, effort and confidence to rise above the ordinary to  extraordinary.  While you cannot delete the real people who are negative as easily as you can the online ones, the idea is still the same. Let go of the relationships that hinder you and find the positive tribe that supports and believes in you.

The moral of the story is that you cannot let others control you into being what or who they want you to be.  They may be stuck so far in negativity that they don’t know how to climb out. You have the choice and the chance to break free. You can decide what kind of life you want to live. 

Why am I so certain that positivity works? Wisdom is my credential. I’ve “been there, done that” and I know that when I apply a positive mindset to my life, I get through the difficult times more quickly.  I have taught my mind to think differently by training in  martial arts and choosing positivity as my guiding force.  How and what you feel on the inside is often comprised of outside influences, but you can  live a better, happier life if you push the negativity away. 

Believe in yourself and know that there is no outside influence whatsoever that can change who you are. You can improve and you can grow.  You are as worthy as any other person to find success. I would not change a thing about my life, even if given the opportunity.  I am exactly where I hoped I would be  because I decided to zap negativity.

xoxo

Andrea 

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Pick up one of my motivational books here: 

The Martial Arts Woman: https://goo.gl/rTSaJA

Martial Art Inspirations for Everyone: https://goo.gl/Yco5GF