All my life I’ve been a pessimist. Why not think that you’re going to fail to be pleasantly surprised when you succeed? I worked extremely hard throughout nursing school, still believing that I wasn’t good enough and that I’d never be good enough.

Some people use this strategy on a daily basis like I have and in reality, thinking negatively doesn’t cause a cosmic shift and make things positive. Then again, thinking positive may not miraculously cause things to go in your favor, but what I learned is that thinking negatively causes so much more tension and stress. There’s no reason to increase your stress level just to lessen your disappointment. If you do fail, thinking positively helps you to become more productive to overcome that failure. If you fail while thinking negatively, it only makes you believe that you are this failure — but you’re not!

When I look back, I have so many things that I should’ve been more grateful and proud of myself for, but I was stuck feeling bad for myself because I felt as if I still didn’t do enough. I was also worried about others believing that I was conceited and stuck up. But my actions affect others and I forget that there are other black women and girls out there who don’t think that they can make it… I’m proof that it is possible and there’s no reason for me to be so reticent that I’m not inspiring others.

As I begin the first day of my orientation tomorrow, I’m vowing to be more positive. I know this will be one of the most challenging ventures of my life, but instead of thinking negatively to try and lessen any disappointment, I’m going to be positive and allow myself to learn from my failures and not reinforce them.

I challenge you all to think more positively. You honestly have nothing to lose…