Quotes About Attitude

I love reading quotes. Sometimes they can be inspiring and other times it feels like there is someone out there who feels the same way I do. I thought it might be fun to gather a few quotes that I like that are related to attitude and share what they mean to me. Below are a few quotes about attitude.

"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference."

-Winston Churchill

It wasn't until I was in my older teenage years that I started to notice that there was some truth to this. Then, in my younger twenties, I realized how accurate it really was. I used to be pretty pessimistic. I still am, but not nearly as much as I used to be. Anything inconvenient or unwanted would happen and it would destroy my mood for the longest time. It would truly ruin my day, week, month, whatever. Eventually, I started noticing that the things that seemed so catastrophic to me were the same things that other people laughed about and brushed off. It took a lot of work, but gradually I got there too. Now when something bad happens, I just feel grateful and remind myself that it could've been worse. I've developed an attitude of "it can't be changed, so why make it worse?" Overall, I am much happier than I used to be and I am able to see things in a more positive light than I had before.

"If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden."

-Frances Hodgson Burnett

I'm not really sure exactly what meaning was intended from this quote when the person said it, but I get two meanings from it. One is that if you really look, you will realize that you have some control over every area of your life. Kind of like "if you plant it, it will grow" or "it's only green where you water it." I see this as all areas of wellness/life can either be neglected or nurtured. For example, if you put focus and effort into financial well-being, you will do better at managing your finances. Or, if you avoid thinking about finances, you might be spending more than you are making. Same goes for your social well-being, career, family, hobbies... etc. Just the same, if any of these areas were to be neglected, they wouldn't do as well. Like a garden, you can have a very beautiful garden that is really well taken care of or you can have a garden that has some areas that aren't getting watered as well, and as a result are a little more shriveled up.

The other meaning I get from this quote is that there is beauty in everything if you just look. For example, you can look at the world and see that there are terrible things on the news everyday and conclude that the world is a terrible place, or you can look around and see all the love, support, and caring that happened in the middle of it. While there may be some weeds and thorny plants, there are flowers and other beautiful plants and features to be noticed, and if you focus on those, then you can see that the world is actually a beautiful garden.

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be."

-Kurt Vonnegut

This is something that I heard a lot as a teenager, but never really took seriously. The way I was told was something more like "the choices you make now will affect the rest of your life." I thought "whatever, when I'm an adult I'll get my crap together." Then adulthood came and it wasn't quite as easy as I thought it would be to change the things that I had planned to change. It was especially difficult to decide who I wanted to be during a time in human development when you are trying out different identities to try to determine who you are. I bounced around from identity to identity and couldn't figure out who I wanted to be (this is healthy and completely normal for teenage development by the way, so don't be worried if this sounds familiar). With each identity, I was pretending to be that person and knew I would have to settle on one but wasn't sure how to decide which one was for me. I could be really kind and helpful, I also wanted desperately to fit in and be "cool," sometimes I wanted to be completely independent and leave everything and everyone behind, I could be mean but I didn't really like myself when I was mean. Was I a girly-girl, a hippie, an edgy punk, a tomboy? I didn't really know. I liked things about all these identities. Eventually, as human development eventually does, I settled on an identity that seemed to fit me. It took some effort and time, but I learned to let go of my materialistic, need-to-fit-in, and "I'm tough" parts of myself that I didn't really identify with anymore and traded them for things that seemed more natural to me like being kind, helpful, and simple. Now, I am working towards becoming a licensed mental health professional and am continuing to work towards who I want to be. It's not always easy, but I do want to be someone that people feel comfortable around and accepted by. Even when I learn something new that I don't quite feel that I fully agree with yet, I try it out and pretend that I do, and eventually I get there. For example, do you know how hard it is to be married and not complain to your spouse about the things that frustrate you? It can be so difficult! But, I am taught that a more therapeutic and effective approach is to discuss these things calmly and without being accusatory so that is what I try to do. Not perfect at it yet, but I do notice that when I approach things more calm, I start to feel more calm.