“There are 365 days in one year and 24 hours in a day.”
You start your day either with a breakfast or a nice shower, then head off to work or get out of your house to start the day. In the minutes between preparing and contemplating what to do, what to wear, what to eat, and where to go: little thoughts penetrate your mind with either a positive or a negative undertone. Before you leave the house you expect deadlines crossing your way and weather forecast affecting the flow of traffic and your travel time going to work. Arriving at your workplace demands you to fulfill tasks and squeeze them until lunch. The next set of responsibilities comes running after you even before the food in your stomach starts to digest. You suddenly realized it’s almost time to face the rush of commuters or slow moving traffic hoping you’ll get home safe and a much needed sleep, but your alarm went off – it’s time to repeat the process.
“These are the thoughts an average person who goes to work endures for five to six times a day.”
Little thoughts amounting to a small pile of resentment and later on become a full-blown case of burn out. These are also the thoughts that make up a mind of a person living with HIV with additional baggage and concerns regarding health, financial capacity, lifetime medication, acceptance and annual visits to the doctor. HIV positive or not, would you like living a life full of resentment and small complaints piling up to devour your day and your whole year? People you commute with, posts you have read online, a puddle of mud you accidentally stepped onto, that cab driver who complains every time he sees traffic – small habits that became a routine cultivating a lifestyle of hate and negativity. Tiring isn’t it?
“Imagine the opposite of these words and thoughts.”
Happy mornings with an irresistible sunny charm, commuters who smile on their way to a better possibility, drivers who make an effort to provide little chats of colorful symphony, and a work that requires you to be a productive and dignified citizen of this country. Meals enjoyed with a side of laughter and compliments for the nice glow on your skin and the hint of brightness in your smile. The refreshing taste of lemonade that reminds you of your life when things are simpler and a cent can take you to places while enjoying the feel of the earth moving around your feet. The smell of intoxicating mix of pleasure and the taste of heavenly sauce poured onto a warm mouth watering dish. Which would you prefer?
Formulating these thoughts consciously may seem like you are living in a make-believe alternate universe where words are painted with bright pastel hues and sunny shades of citrus colors, but would you rather live a life resenting every words you’ve heard and stated? Would you rather read the first two paragraphs to start your day or the adjectives used on the third paragraph?
Positive Action Foundation Philippines, Incorporated or PAFPI with its volunteers and advocates invites you to send a message of hope and happiness to People Who Are Living with HIV – by being aware, informed and POSITIVELY dealing with life and the people you love.
