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I can’t speak to how everyone has been raised. However, as a society, we are not promoted to be happy for each other and support one another.

If we were, platforms like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram would not thrive off of negativity. Over and over, we see people leaving nasty comments on other people’s feeds and twitter ‘rants’ and ‘wars’ have become the norm.

It is clearly up to each and every one of us to go against this way of life and choose to be happy and supportive for others.

This is why:

1. ‘An eye for an eye leaves the world blind’- Mahatma Ghandi.

I’m a firm-believer in having boundaries and standing up for yourself; however, there is a difference between standing up for yourself and just being plain nasty. If you find yourself constantly feeling as though you need to stand up for yourself, you could just be being nasty. Take the initiative to be kind and caring without waiting for others to do it first. Responsive actions only make you feel more of a victim.

2. Being a nasty and jealous person only  attracts nasty and jealous people in your life.

If you are finding yourself surrounded by people and friends who are not supportive and jealous, ask yourself if you are truly happy for others. We attract what we allow. So, if you have allowed yourself to perpetually be jealous every time that someone in your life is doing well, take a look at yourself and change your patterns. That also goes for how you speak to others: if you have allowed yourself to speak to others like they are below you, don’t be surprised when you are surrounded people who do the same. Negativity is energy and until you create new habits, you will continue to attract friends of a similar nature.

3. ‘Nobody likes a Debbie Downer’

A friend of an ex-boyfriend of mine told me this. And, it truly resonated with me. After she said it, I had an image of someone who is negative, sitting alone and being isolated by their negativity. We all know someone, or are that someone, who constantly talks about themselves and that something is always happening to them, the ‘victim’.But, you don’t see people running to be around these victim types.They are often chasing down others to be a part of their lives because people rarely want to be around then and their energy. When I was in a toxic-relationship, it consumed me and all that I could do was talk about what was going wrong and how much of a victim I was . I noticed that a lot of friends disappeared and I blamed them. Now, I see that other people have their own problems and I don’t need to add to others problems, I can deal with my own and ask for advice from time-to-time but not all the time.

4. Use your energy on what you need to.

Emotions can be very powerful and I believe that they carry a lot of energy. So, instead of using that energy to defeat you and lead into a cycle of blame, use that energy to help you progress to where you want to be. When you see someone succeed, be happy for them and remind yourself that yours is coming. Sometimes people that you know succeed to remind you that it is obtainable; not impossible.