Guest Blog: Is Yours Worth Catching?

My guest blogger today is an adorable BabyFit friend named Alaythea Carroll. Her view on attitude and how you portray yourself for your own sake and the sake of others is genuinely refreshing. So, for your reading pleasure, I give you Alaythea's words of wisdom!




"I was so honored that Jacquelyn asked me to do a guest blog for her! I racked my brain about the topic I should choose to write about. I have lots of ideas and subjects that roll through my brain all the time but what I’m going to write about is something that kinda hit me the other day and I haven’t been able to get it off my mind.

My husband and I were riding down the road the other day and we were listening to a quick clip of a speaker and he was talking about your spirit. No, not your “ghost” or your soul but the attitude you have, the “aura” your present to people each and every day. And what he said I know I have heard before but it just hit me differently. He said, “Your spirit/attitude is catching. It is transferred whether we realize it or not.” I know how often that very thing happens to me, usually we notice it more when it’s a negative reaction but it can happen in a positive way too. I know how often my spouse or my child become ugly and crabby all because I’m being that way. Or vice versa. And if we aren’t in a positive frame of mind we aren’t able to control our mood and bring the situation up instead of going down with it.

I’ve noticed it with my child already – when she plays with other children. How they act towards her determines her mood and reaction to them. She isn’t old enough to understand yet that she can control the mood and attitude of their play time. When my daughter plays with her second cousin who is just a month older then her she plays so well and so nicely! I hardly ever have to check on them or separate them or calm them down. That’s because my daughter takes on her cousin’s peaceful, sharing attitude. But my daughter used to have a friend who was the complete opposite – mean, didn’t like to share and was constantly hitting and throwing things. And I would watch my sweet little girl revert to doing the same thing. Attitudes are catching!

I don’t have it all together, not at all. I still have my bad days and I have a bad attitude with the rest of them but I do hope that I’m more aware and more conscience of the fact that how I act and react to people can determine how they are to me. When I start having issues with someone I have to make sure it’s not me that’s causing the problems. And I find it amazing how quickly I can allow someone to bring me down if I don’t watch it. I recently dealt with a situation where the person became, quite honestly, very bratty and immature and before I knew it I was starting to stoop to that level. I had to snap out of it and pull myself back up.

“Attitudes are contagious. Are yours worth catching?” ~ Dennis and Wendy Mannering

Our attitudes effect our day to day life as well – I know that when I’m upset or feel down I tend to start losing the grip on the things I have a grip on! I start eating wrong, I start crapping out on my work outs, I start having far less patience with my daughter and husband, my house becomes a mess, etc. When things seem out of control our first instinct is to blame others or the issues around us. Those may effect us, true, but we shouldn’t allow them to determine our life.
I want to have a happy life and I know that has nothing to do with how much money I have, the type of house I live in, the kind of car I drive, the clothes I wear, etc. It has everything to do with my attitude and my outlook on what I have! You can’t be successful with a bad attitude……

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” ~Winston Churchill

I am not normally a positive person so I have to work on making sure I present myself in an upbeat way, if not for anyone but myself. But having a child has made me realize more than ever that I have to work at being positive. No, don’t strain, don’t force it, let it flow. Sit back, take a deep breath, smile and remember the good things in your life. Because no matter how bad things look or seem somewhere you can find something beautiful to remember and think upon! For me, it’s my wonderful husband and my beautiful daughter, it’s seeing how far I’ve come in my health and fitness, knowing that somewhere deep in my is music I want to share with everyone, learning to play piano……these are things that keep me going and make me happy and help me keep my attitude uplifted!

So just remember today that your attitude can affect those around you. When things seem bad or stressful take a moment to consciously make the effort to bring things up instead of farther down!"