Staying Positive when Everyone around you is Negative

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

There is a saying, “if you lay with the dogs, you are going to get the fleas.” Now, this can mean different things, but let’s talk about how it can relate to optimism, especially at work.

I remember having a friend who was negative. All. of. the. time. I swear, nothing positive ever came out of her mouth! And I was over here trying to be positive and that was hard. Now some people might think that if you are positive, you can influence that negative person to change their tune. However, that is typically not the case.

Most of the time, the positive person will start to be more negative. The negative person just rubs off on them more and pretty soon, there is no positivity. That is what the saying you lay with the dogs, you are going to get the fleas means, most people have good intentions, but when you hang around a “dog” you are going to get their “fleas”.

When we work, our jobs take up a large part of our lives. We try to be positive, but it can be hard. Whether you are waiting on a promotion or just trying to make it through each day, if you are surrounded by pessimists, being an optimist can take its toll.

Some people might not think this can happen when you work from home. They think you don’t interact much with others, so there is no way that someone can rub off on you negatively. Well, I am here to tell you, that is not the truth. There are times when you interact a great deal with someone virtually and yes if they are negative, it can still impact you.

The Bible tells us that God is with us. It tells us not to be worried or dismayed but to trust in God. We need to be prayed up each day and especially when we are going to interact with those negative people. We also need to remind ourselves and them, that God is with us and that being negative is kind of like showing that we don’t trust this.

Some people are negative because they feel that they have gotten their hopes up so many times, only to be let down. They have begun to look at everything in a negative light to save their feelings from getting hurt. This is not trusting God and let’s face it, being optimistic brings more joy than being negative.

The next time you are at work or talking to a person you work with who is negative and they begin their negative talk. Try to change the subject and see what happens. Change it to a more pleasant topic. If that doesn’t work, excuse yourself from the conversation and stay away from that person as much as possible when they are being negative.

When I have someone like this in my life, I tend to pray more. I pray for myself to handle the situation in the right way and I pray for them to change. I have found that when I pray more about this, no matter what happens, the situation always changes for the good in some way!