Who you callin' a Pollyanna?

I was called a Polyanna today. I guess when you decide to do the opposite of most other people, by choosing not to be exposed to negativity, they sort of don’t know what to think of you.
Our culture has this tendency to be drawn to creepy, negative forms of expression, in books, t.v. and even conversation. It’s bred in to us through the media which is almost impossible to ignore…. unless you choose otherwise.
Lately people want to argue with me that it is good to be informed by the news or that they want to hear or read about other peoples tragic stories so that they can be informed and wise enough not to allow it to happen to them. But really just by reading and watching it they are experiencing it as well…on some level. You are feeling the angry or depressing emotions brought on by the story right? So it is affecting you in a very similar way, emotionally. If everyone fully realized the effect negativity has on them would they really want to be exposed to any of it? I doubt it but most people know no other way. This is what they are accustomed to and they do not even realize that they have a choice to live this way or not.
But at some point I did realize this and I knew that I did not want to keep going through it, reliving those emotions myself. I have a choice for how I want to be, depressed and angry or happy and at peace. So now, I am very careful about what I expose myself to. Not because I am a Polyanna who wants to live in a perfect world. I am not naïve, all I have to do it step outside of my front door to know the world is not perfect….but because I understand the effect that these negative stories have on me and I choose not to live that way. And every one of us has the same choice, to experience positivity or negativity. It’s all up to you.