Life's too short . . .

. . . to deal with negative people or those who stress you out.  And while you might have a few of those in the family tree or at work -- those you can't exactly walk away from -- you can distance yourself, or not get involved in their drama as much as you might have in the past, or just accept that some are not going to change and let their negativity pass you by instead of giving it permission to eat away at you.  But really I'm speaking more about energy-sucking acquaintances, those who feed on stress and negativity, those who thrive on drama and gossip, and will often create it just to get their fix.  If you can, part ways with these energy-suckers.  Just don't go there, you know?  Distance yourself.  Move on.  Or don't get involved if you know deep down it's going to be a strain.     

As a creative person, being stressed-out can completely stifle you.  It's counterproductive.  It becomes more than personal when it starts interfering with your job.  You find yourself thinking about the source of your stress constantly and actually caring too damn much about something you have little control over.   The one thing you can control, however, is how you allow others to affect you.    

I'm lucky in that I  have a terrific family and great friends.  But everyone faces negative feeders, or those who expect you to treat them great, but in return do not do the same for you.  Those you have, time and time again, given the benefit of the doubt and have perhaps made more than enough excuses for.  So, I have vowed to try and surround myself with positive people who get what relationships and living is all about.  Who actually treat others the way they want to be treated.   Simple concept, eh?

And I have a question now that I ask myself every morning.  "How do you want to live this day?"  It reminds me that life is too damn short to spend hours  stressing out or being pulled under by someone else's issues.  Ya know?  I'm not talking about those you care about.  If my sister is suffering, I suffer with her.  I'm just speaking about negative folks who don't truly care about or respect the relationship they have with you.  

I don't want to get to the end of a precious day and realize I wasted it all on stress.  I have better things to do with my time.  :)