No Debbie Downers Allowed

Have you noticed how much negativity is out there in digital land?

Out of the hundreds of blogs I read and bajillions of tweets I follow, I would estimate that about a third of these people are regularly disgruntled, sometimes many times during the day, about some mundane thing or another.

I'm not talking about the people who are facing serious life hardships. Their posts are heart-wrenching and oh so readable. Because of their brutal honesty, I feel like I am right there with them and their pain, even if I am across the country. Their readers are a support network of love, and it's wonderful.

No, I am talking about those people who tweet out things like "UGH traffic again, my life stinks!!!" followed later by "The grocery store is out of my favorite brand of cereal AGAIN!" and blog posts about how much laundry and dusting there is to do.

Wow, they are all such Debbie Downers!

I like to look on the bright side of life (cue Monty Python here). You may have picked up on this from my constant use of obnoxiously cheery language and happy faces. I rarely have a day where I hate the world around me. Maybe you think my kind of personality is annoying, or unrealistic. But really, it just helps me to get through each day by remembering what makes my world great.

It's the big things. My friends and my family. My job. My home. My health.

It's the smaller things, too -- new shoes, or a new manicure. My favorite ice cream at Brewster's. A short line at the check-out. A great sale item on final discount.

Finding joy in all those big and small things helps me create my own personal bubble of daily happiness. And you know what? When I started this blog almost exactly one year ago, and when I started tweeting out my thoughts to the world back in 2008, I decided that "if I didn't have anything nice to say, that I wouldn't say it at all."

You may see an annoyed tweet or two from me every so often. I am human, and I get irritated at things, yes. I also (gasp!) have a minor (ok, more than minor) case of New-Jersey-blood-induced-road-rage.

But usually, I like to let it simmer before I word-vomit my thoughts out to you all. Because I mean really, do any of you really care if I stubbed my toe on the door? Or that I forgot to get one item off my list at the grocery store? No? I didn't think so :)

So here's a little challenge for all of us today: let's try and spread some joy around the interwebs, rather than complaints and madness. And who knows? You might find yourself filtering your words longer than just for today...

Cheerfully and optimistically yours,