Don’t forget that the Healthy Living Summit Golden Ticket Charity Auction starts tomorrow!
I had a wonderful breakfast of Oikos yogurt, Kashi TLC bar, and banana, but my camera ate the photograph this morning — just visualize the yumminess, mmkay?
And for lunch, I had a bean wrap:
My wrap contained dark red kidney beans, cheddar cheese, and lettuce.
Plus grapes:
And a bowl of watermelon:
Negative Noise and Energy Vampires
Lately, my recent blogging successes have forced me to deal with a lot of negative noise and energy vampires. I’ve been thinking a lot about how my situation is not unique to blogging, but is really a metaphor for life. I wanted to share some thoughts and hear your opinion.
If you read the comments associated with the half-dozen news articles that have been written about Operation Beautiful, many of these comments are shockingly inflammatory and degrading to both the mission, the participants, and me. It’s obvious to me that these people 1) need psychological help and 2) have not even bothered to go to the website.
My mantra is that these types of comments are "negative noise." Negative noise are small actions that distract you, stop you from being productive, and threaten to ruin your day. Most urgently, negative noise threatens to overwhelm all the positive encouragement in your life. But remember — it’s just noise. It’s meaningless dribble.
Negative noise exists in real life as much as it does in the blogging community. The Husband calls people like this "energy vampires." They suck away your positive energy and you feel exhausted after dealing with them. He encounters a lot of people like this at his work, and I know I’ve dealt with "friends" who were really energy vamps in disguise.
How do you deal with negative noise and energy vampires?
- Ignore the noise as much as possible. Whether it is someone in your life who sprouts negativity about your new healthy lifestyle or an anonymous commentor online, ignore them. As Kath once wisely told me, negative noise is not worth your energy.
- Turn your anger into sympathy. Negative noise and energy vampires can elicit a great deal of anger in the person on the receiving end — if you get angry, you are letting them win because they are sucking up you positivity. If you can, feel BAD for the person instead of being MAD at them.
- Don’t try to understand an energy vampire’s motivations. See Rule #1 — just ignore them. There are LOADS of reasons why people behave like this, but truthfully — who cares to figure it out? Again, you are wasting your time by ruminating on it.
- Disengage. Disengage yourself from the situation. Whether that means you have to disable commenting on your blog, dump a friend, or stop talking to your mother about your attempts to eat healthier, disengage so the energy vampires cannot get to you.
- Spend your time wisely. Instead of spending your time on a negative person, talk to a positive person and encourage them.
- Realize that positivity ALWAYS trumps negativity. Trust me, karma is a bitch.
When have you encountered negative noise or energy vampires? At work, at school, at the gym? In your friendships or relationships? How have you successfully fought negative noise?
I love this post, Caitlin! I find that when I am around so-called 'energy vampires' it is best to walk away and ignore the bad energy. I have had to cut some people out of my life, but I have really come out the better!