[Have Hope]

I have gone from one awful or bad experience to another, not only during the last year, but mainly for much of my life. And mostly, it's career-related, but it can also relate to romantic involvements.

And, on top of the covid mess, in the last year, I have been confronted with:

abuse
separation/near divorce
infidelity
bullying
unemployment
suicide
death
hospitalization
toxic work environment

And honestly, it's been far too much to bare.

I finally got myself a new job, about which I am excited, but I find myself bracing myself for the next big life eruption that comes my way.

How do I not project negativity onto future outcomes, when I've had such a string of bad life experiences or very undesirable life circumstances? How does one remain positive and hopeful?

[Aviza]

Affirmations, positive thinking, gratitude.

[divine1966]

The way I look at it is that I some events we really are victims and can’t really do anything about changing that. Things happen to us without out participation. Like car being hit when you sit at the red light doing nothing wrong. But in some other aspects we are in charge of some outcomes so we can learn lessons and try to apply those lessons to our future endeavors. That’s how I look at it. What could you learn if anything

The other thing helps is to think that it could always be worse. Whatever bad things happen they could be always worse. Somebody always has it worse.

Then pretty much idea behind Serenity prayer too. Like accept things you can’t control and change the ones you can.

[Have Hope]

Originally Posted by Aviza

Affirmations, positive thinking, gratitude.

Thanks @Aviza. Gratitude resonates best with me. Affirmations can feel false sometimes to me though at times they’ve helped me feel better. Positive thinking is where I struggle based on past experiences tainting my viewpoint.

[Have Hope]

Originally Posted by divine1966

The way I look at it is that I some events we really are victims and can’t really do anything about changing that. Things happen to us without out participation. Like car being hit when you sit at the red light doing nothing wrong. But in some other aspects we are in charge of some outcomes so we can learn lessons and try to apply those lessons to our future endeavors. That’s how I look at it. What could you learn if anything

The other thing helps is to think that it could always be worse. Whatever bad things happen they could be always worse. Somebody always has it worse.

Then pretty much idea behind Serenity prayer too. Like accept things you can’t control and change the ones you can.

Thanks @divine1966. Although I’m not wondering or thinking of why these things happened or how to accept them. It’s that I struggle with feeling positive about new experiences based on past negative experiences.

[Have Hope]

I guess what I am saying is that everything is tainted by negative experiences, so much so that I expect anything I think is good in my life to go sour.