thanks mister seligman

i'd very much like to think of myself as a stable person. you know? but sometimes when i keep switching off being happy and sad in the same day i begin to wonder. maybe it's the weather.

i think something very important is being able to see things just for what they are, not as a big deal when they're not or a very small deal when they kind of are.

for example

when i moved to california, i stopped exercising. and that was because i stopped being in soccer. so now when i see that i moved up a jean size i automatically think "i've gotten fatter and lazier and i am degrading in my quality as a person." or something like that but with more emotion and stuff. but actually, i'm not really lazy i dont think. i try to use my time well, even if that means being on the computer for a long time. and when i have to do something i just do it usually. so that's a very big deal made out of a small deal which was just that i'm not in soccer anymore so i got fatter.

even though i do wish i wasn't fatter. but that can also be solved with some time and effort.

i did a psychology paper on martin seligman. he is considered the father of positive psychology. he calls what i'm trying to describe "explanatory style", meaning the way you explain situations and events in relation to yourself. basically, my jean size could be the result of my faults and failures as a person which are embedded deep inside me and are hopeless to change, which would be a pessimistic explanatory style, or it could be the result of my move to california and not directly related to a personal failure, which would be an optimistic explanatory style.

this is all very valuable stuff i've realized. its nice to be able to explain things to yourself logically.