Anna O’Brien - 15 Sept

Copyright 2018 Anna OBrien.

Published by Mango Publishing Group, a division of Mango Media Inc.

Cover and Layout Design: Elina Diaz

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A Life Full of Glitter: A Guide to Positive Thinking, Self-Acceptance, and Finding Your Sparkle in a (Sometimes) Negative World

Library of Congress Cataloging
ISBN: (print) 978-1-63353-814-6 (ebook) 978-1-63353-815-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018952300
BISAC category code: SEL023000 SELF-HELP / Personal Growth / Self-Esteem

Printed in the United States of America

This is dedicated to Mirah and Garrett.
May you be the future the world needs.

Contents

I cant believe I did it. I actually wrote a book. There are moments in our lives when things seem overwhelming and impossible. Creating this book was one of those times. I felt stressed out, nervous, insecure, and fearful. Would my words be good enough ?

I had every reason to be nervous. While writing this book, I shared more of my life, opinions, and challenges than ever before. There were days I spent hours crying as I wrote out painful memories and lessons from my past, and others when I was reminded just how much we can all grow and change. These pages are filled with love and experience. Thats the best thing I can offer to a world in need of greater understanding.

In each chapter youll find a mix of personal stories, scientific research to increase our understanding on different topics, and active steps you can take to better your own life. This formula is important to me. I believe the more we understand how our brains and bodies work, the more connected to them we become. That connection is powerful and is fundamental to better understanding our needs and emotions in the present.

As I wrote each chapter, I re-learned lessons, grew stronger in my commitment to changes Id made in my past, and uncovered the scientific explanation for things that always made sense to me but I could never fully explain. This book isnt just a guide to thinking more positively, but rather a collection of the tools that I have used to develop into the strong, fearless, and positive person I am todayand how you can too. Writing this book helped me grow. I hope reading it will do the same for you.

The Benefits of a More Positive Life

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermeres Fan

I used to think of positivity as so lame. I cant think of a better way to describe itso lame suits the way my teenage brain processed it all at the time. Do you remember those men in fresh pressed suits on big stages with tiny headband microphones, selling us the power of positivity on late night infomercials? Theyd wave their hands around until they were drenched in sweat from preaching the power of optimism. They looked so mature and chiseled (albeit caked in perspiration)totally un-relatable to a teenage girl who felt misunderstood. How could a real-life aged-Ken-doll fathom the struggles of a chubby, geeky girl with acne, bullies, and a crush on every boy? I was convinced it was all a sham. Id shut off the TV, envious that Ken got to live his perfect life, complete with a custom-made Italian suit and fancy mini-microphone, while I still had to make a diorama explaining the plot of To Kill a Mockingbird out of toothpicks and crushed dreams.

I should note that when I was thirteen, I was angry and deeply sad. My home life was challenging, I definitely didnt have the media-driven cool teenager body, and I was awkward. I was really awkward. Eventually that sadness spilled out into my life through anger. I cussed, I fought and I got in too much trouble. I was so unruly that I was sent to a special school for wayward children. Perhaps this sounds like the plot of a well-orchestrated childrens novel. Its not. People simply began to lose faith in me and as a result, I began to lose faith in myself.

On the outside, I became the neighborhood child that parents didnt want their kids to play with. On the inside, I was a mixed bag of negative emotions. I felt lonely, angry at the world, envious of those with simpler lives, and confused as to who I was. I was desperate to turn my life around, but given the circumstances it all seemed overwhelming and hopeless.

I remember very clearly sitting in this classroom of unruly children pondering my future. To the left a teacher was literally tackling a student whod begun a violent outburst. To the right, another student was slowly punching the front of their forehead over and over; sometimes the person we bully most is ourselves. In this terrible moment, I realized something had to change. Maybe it was some sort of divine intervention or, maybe just maybe, I was sick and tired of the person I was. I couldnt change the circumstances around me, so I would have to be the one to change. If I didnt, my life would be a complete waste. It was then that my story began to evolve.

Maybe thats how you feel right now. Maybe thats why youre reading this book, because you too realize something in your life has to change, but youre not sure what or how to do it. Its a process. It would take me a few years to get my footing and to fully integrate positivity into my life. I want to start this book off with honesty. The change you want does not happen overnight, even though I would love for that to be the case. Miracles are not worked in an hour of light reading. It didnt happen that way for me, and I am pretty confident that it doesnt happen that way for most people. You have to put in the work to change.

By the time I got to college, my life was unrecognizable from who I previously was. I entered university on an exceptionmy grades had been too poor during my rebellious days to go to most schools. However, my new found positivity was a force to be reckoned with. I found an exceptions committee, prepared my case, and found my way into a good school anyway. I went from a C-minus student in high school to an A student in college. Once an awkward loner, I became a social butterfly.

I attribute the majority of my growth in those years to positivity. I was committed to the belief that things would get better, I would get better, and as a result the world would get better. That belief in a better life molded me into the lady boss I am today. I fought to recognize and appreciate many more things in my daily life. I became more present in my reality, and as result I saw and believed I was worthy of so many more opportunities. I developed a deep sense of gratitude, so when bad things happened I was able to acknowledge them as a temporary part of the cycle.