There have been many times in my life when I was surrounded by a multitude of friendships. And equally times when I have felt alone. What I realized is that it’s often not the quantity of friendships you have that support and lift you up. But the quality ones. The people that genuinely care about your health, your well-being, your sanity. The more time you spend with positive people, the more you begin to feel positive about yourself.

But what do you do if you’re at a place in your life where you don’t have a lot of support? Maybe you recently moved or your 2012 goal was to remake your life and in doing so you’ve had to let go of those who previously weighed you down. It may feel scary to venture out alone. But there are things you can do now while you’re working to rebuild your social network.

Go On a Positivity Fest
Once I fall into the pit of “woe is me,” it is very difficult to climb out. Instead I’ve learned ways to keep the good feelings flowing by celebrating with a positivity fest. Since I was a child, I’ve kept a journal. As I got older, I used it to catalog my fears, dislikes and joyful moments and also uplifting quotes of people I admired from things I read or saw on TV. I spent the majority of my adolescence in a library glued to the self-help section. All those quotes were like rays of shine for me during a few of the darkest years of my life. They were my teachers, role models and mentors. Dead or alive, whether I’ve met them or not, their words left an imprint on my soul and all went straight into my book.

Today, I still use a journal to catalog moments of inspiration and hope. Why? Well I know how tempting it is to indulge in a bad mood. Ever watch the evening news or listen to sad moody music? It’s a quick way to fall into a downward spiral of negativity. A lot of people get addicted to the negative emotions garnered by TV and they grasp onto them filling their pot with more negativity. Instead, I choose uplifting music, videos, positive poems, quotes, and biographies of inspiring people to breed hope. It’s all a part of my tool box.

The thing is we can choose how we want to live our lives. And if consistent negative thoughts can breed sadness and depression, then there is potential for positive thoughts to not just influence our mood, but empower our lives.