Have you ever walked into a room and immediately been hit by an overwhelming sense of disgust?

Maybe the air was thick and stuffy, the floor was cluttered with junk or it smelled of mildew. But this can be easily remedied by opening up a window, investing in a vacuum cleaner or spritzing some Febreze.

However, the most dangerous vibe-killer of all time is not as easily fixed: negativity.

We all have that one friend, you know the one who constantly complains about everything. When you greet them with a simple “How are you?” They somehow always seems to answer with, “I’m so tired.” Unless s/he is tired because s/he stayed up all night doing something awesome and story-worthy, nobody cares, especially not you, who may have also been tired but not as aware of it until they pointed it out.

Their negativity manifests itself into everything they do. They always complain the calculus test is going to be so hard or that they won’t have a social life that weekend because of the AP US History project. Not only does it apparently “suck to be them,” but now it sucks to be you as well because you have to put up with your bemoaning friend who probably brought down your mood a couple notches.

Of course, there may be a bit of a twist to this, as this friend, you may slowly be realizing, is you. However, before you start thinking (pessimistically), “Wow everyone must hate me,” stop right there. More negative thoughts like that and everyone really will hate you. Maybe you don’t mean to be negative, and you hadn’t really realized the “can’t do” attitude that you’ve been practicing. Honestly, maybe it’s not completely your fault; pop culture is full of self-depreciating humor and other things that make you negative.

For example, all those twitter accounts, with jokes such as “I hate everyone” or “forever alone,” are of no help. If you really hate everyone that much, then why don’t you just live by yourself? I’m sure nobody will miss someone who “hates them.” When you realize how much better real life actually is, believe me, you’ll be running back, and maybe you’ll even be making the most of your life for once.

Luckily for you, the beauty of being a person in this wonderful country is that you can do anything you want. Don’t settle. Most importantly, you need to stop blaming the world for things that go wrong, and remember that you have control. American journalist Chris Brogan said it best when he said “Don’t settle: Don’t finish crappy books. If you don’t like the menu, leave the restaurant. If you’re not on the right path, get off it.”