During an afternoon at work one day (we worked for a composite door company), aged as I say twenty-two, a colleague I was working with started to talk to me. What he said was a shock to me, however would have a profound effect on my future. He said to me:

“Your are somebody who always thinks in a negative way, you a right depressive person, aren’t you?”

“Am I?”

I said in a rather cautious voice – I had not realised that I was negative in comparison to other people. There were reasons for my often depressive state; I had a stuttering speech impediment for a start.

He continued:

“Yes you are. You very rarely smile, you are negative about most issues and you always seem to be carrying the world on your shoulders”.

This man was aged around fifty three and continued:

“I used to be like you and then I was given some advice, of which I am now going to relay to you. Whenever you start to become slightly depressed or in the state of feeling sorry for yourself – start to watch the news on the TV. You may then realise that you are in fact one of the lucky ones.”

I had a long think about what he had said. I had never been a big reader or watcher of the news, but decided to give it a go. The advice he gave me was totally correct, the news from around the world and even my own country was quite shocking. It soon became clear to me that I had to stop this ridiculous stressed out, depressive and negative way of life that I had been leading and that I needed to start appreciating just how lucky I was.

I have now commenced a new career in the cheap holidays sector and have taken my new found positive attitude with me.

Conclusion: Start to appreciate what you have and the contentment will soon come.