Have you ever seen someone and immediately thought, thank God I am not them?!
If so, then you may have just done some hardcore cold fighting. According to a Canadian study, individuals who compared their situation (attractiveness, finances, intelligence, etc.)to those in a lesser perceived situation were sick less than those who did not compare themselves positively. And I was always taught that I should not believe that I am better than others.
It is called a downward social comparison when we compare ourselves to people in worse situations. It helps us to fight colds because we are increasing our positive emotions. So that is the story of how Jersey Shore became so popular. We are actually fighting colds by watching people with intelligence of broccoli get trashed and fight for absolutely no reason.
It is much healthier if we stroke our egos by comparing ourselves to those who are not as blessed as we are. Those who view their situation as worse then most tend to have more stress and anxiety; both of which hinder our bodies’ natural cold-fighting abilities.
So if you ever get accused of being cocky or shallow, just look the accuser dead in the eye and inform them that you are just working extra hard to stay cold free.
I have not had a cold in over three years, and I am fairly confident in saying that after watching all these Charlie Sheen interviews, I just bought myself at least one more cold-free year.
Fighting colds is not even all that is beneficial from positive thinking. It has been proven to increase life span, lower rates of depression, better coping skills, and ultimately have a greater effect on physiological and psychological well-being.
Bottom line though, we need to stop envying those with things we do not have and be thankful for what we do. College students seem to love to complain. Well, at least we are lucky enough to have the opportunity to better ourselves and get a degree.
Older generations are always telling us that these are the best years of our lives, and they are right. Even though times in college may get stressful, in the grand picture we are all blessed to have the chance to get an education beyond K-12.
So do we really want to spend the best years of our lives complaining and being sick? n