Surrounding Yourself with Positivity Isn't as Great as It Sounds

Surround yourself with positivity. I hear this all the time but is this really something we should be practicing? True, this could be meant for not only ideas but people as well but that can still be a slippery slope toward ignorance. I think that everyone should have a nice balance of positive and negative thoughts and social interactions. We can't go living our lives ignorant of all negativity. How would problems be solved? How would we progress as a society?

Being surrounded by socially positive people can be portrayed in different ways to different people. Some want to be surrounded by people with positive attitudes. To me I think this is one of those ideas that in theory would be great but in reality it may fall apart quickly. Having positive people around you all the time can be nice but they may irritate you after a while. To me it would be like being in an old television sitcom where people are impossibly one dimensional. Having someone like that day in and day out could be very annoying. It can also feel insincere because you know people have their own opinions and if they are always positive no matter what it would throw you off. I know I would not be able to handle it but some people may argue otherwise.

Maybe being surrounded by people that are more agreeable may give more of a positive environment. This obviously would be a bad idea. There are many instances in the past that prove yes men are not the best people to get advice from. We see it in politics and in business that "yes men" aren't in it for your best interest. What you will get is an added boost of confidence in doing whatever you choose to do. I think we need other opinions though.

I understand the frustration of having to argue against someone being bull-headed with their opinions. Sometimes it's great to just hear what their perspective. It helps you understand another way to view things. It's okay to disagree but it's not okay to take things too far. When the argument goes nowhere and both sides have to be correct an argument can turn into a fight. Everyone has an opinion on things we don't have to be correct in everything we argue.

When people search for opinions they also tend to look for opinions close to their own in order to reinforce their opinion. It's good to know that you're not the only one with a certain opinion. I know I have a few friends on Facebook who do not have the same perspectives as I do. I want to challenge them all the time to an argument. Sometimes I think to myself maybe I should but I'd worry that I would start an argument and the whole conversation would turn negative. I didn't want to cause a stir. That's one of the problems with trying to stay positive. You have to let out your opinion. Who knows if it'll help sway the other person or bring new perspective. Ideas are great and the more of them that we bring to a conversation the better. We can't stagnate progression by fear of bringing in negative thoughts. I believe there are a ton of silent voices that need to be heard.

On the other side I've had people spewing (in my opinion) negative rhetoric on my Facebook. They post this stuff so often that I want to block or unfriend them but I realize that their opinions count. They aren't the only ones with these ideas so if I am ignorant to these opinions I'm not listening to a portion of society. I want to get to understand where they're coming from so I get a better idea of where they are going with their arguments and why. It helps me expand my thought process and become more patient.

The last thing we want people to do is segregate themselves from the rest of society because they don't have the same ideals or beliefs as others. Nobody should feel left alone and isolated. We need to become more accepting of different perspectives regardless of how it differs from our own.