You can't handle the truth!

It's kind of funny, really. I've found that whenever you ask someone for their opinion on something not related to yourself, they almost immediately go to the negative.

You know - "Hey, Bob, how're things?"
Bob: "Yeah man, well, you know, the pool's cracked so it's leaking into the garden, and little Suzy figured out how to take her nappy off and finger paint with her own poop..."

(Apparently the poop finger painting does happen with toddlers. Ew.)

I'm definitely guilty of this as well - no, not the poop finger painting. What the heck man?

I mean, the "jumping to negatives" thing. It's something I'm noticing pretty frequently with some of my interactions with other people - both from myself and the other person. Sometimes, though, it's good to be positive.

I had to go to SARS on Tuesday to update my details with them. Surprisingly, they were super efficient and fast. The consultant I was dealing with laughed and joked with me, which made the experience a lot less clinical.

You don't have to be some kind of caffeinated Care Bear on ecstasy - that's just...weird. And scary. But it doesn't hurt to give a smile or crack a small joke. Antisocial Husband normally asks that I order when we're at restaurants as I'm more of a "people" person. I joke with the waitperson and make sure to say "Please" and "Thank you". As a result, we very rarely get bad service. Just from being friendly and treating them like a person.

Try it one day. Crack a joke, give em a smile. Share a funny story with someone. Even if you've had a a crap day, I'm almost willing to bet that those 5 minutes of positivity will brighten your day.