One thing that I've discovered to be immensely helpful in writing is the process of coming away from a difficult situation and trying to find the positive in it. I write on here once a day, which means that I treat every interaction I have with the world as an opportunity to find something interesting, to uncover some insight for myself, so that maybe I'll be able to distill something worth sharing. Time is short, so it's immensely important that I don't squander any of those opportunities by letting myself get mired into emotional traps.

A lot of the posts that I've written on here have been the direct product of a social encounter or an email interaction with a stranger that left me confused, annoyed, or even frustrated with the other person. Sure, it would be easy for me to get mad at someone who cuts in front of me in line at the grocery store and write about that, but I can't just come on here and start whining about how annoying people are. That wouldn't be interesting, and it would be immensely counter-productive for me as a person to expound on negative emotions. And I'm definitely not the only person who's short on time during my days.

If you're going to write something on the Internet, you always have to stop and consider whether what you're about to write is really worth spreading. Moods are contagious, and words are powerful contagions. And one thing I've learned is that most people in this world don't need any help learning how to become negative thinkers.