Glass Half Full

Why having a positive mindset is the key to happiness and success.

By: Naya Dukkipati

“Keep your face in the sunshine, and you can’t see the shadow” Hellen Keller.

I have tons of sticky notes on the wall with inspirational quotes, words, and goals in front of my desk. Every day I read the words: believe, success, and happiness. I try to keep these in mind when I’m challenged or upset.

I think everyone at some point in their life feels sad or helpless; it’s a normal thing. Everyone has bad days and moments, and that’s perfectly fine. However, what is not acceptable is letting these bad days and moments define you because once you let yourself live in the past, you can’t see what potential lies ahead.

The glass half full mentality is about changing your mindset. Before, when there was a task that I dreaded doing, I allowed myself to procrastinate. I would become someone I didn’t want to be, someone who stopped when things got hard. Recognizing I needed to change, I decided to alter my approach to mentally processing tasks that I didn’t want to do. I started saying that this is something “I get to do” rather than “I have to do.” While I still didn’t want to do them, I remembered the wise words of Denzel Washington: “Do what you gotta do, so you can do what you wanna do”. From this, I started to view any task I had as an opportunity: a chance to learn, make memories, become a stronger person.

I don’t always have a positive mindset, but it’s something I practice, and after a few years of doing so, I think I am better for it. In my first year of high school, I moved schools and entered a space where people had been friends since they were 18 months old and where a whole new set of people had to learn the difference between my twin sister and me. At first, this was not easy, but I remembered why I moved -- to get a better education and have more opportunities. By thinking glass half full, amazing things and people came into my life. When you don’t open yourself up to a situation, the people around you can sense it and make things worse. Leaving my friends was hard, but when I think of the good that has come from it, like growing as a person and learning to push forward in difficult situations, I’m glad that it happened.

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