The Seven Deadly Attitudes

As a young person, my attitude towards life, others, and myself in general is constantly in flux. And I'm learning, over and over again, the old-age adage "if you keep doing things the same way, things will stay the same" (or something along those lines). It's true: if you don't change your attitude, your behaviour remains the same, and you are stuck in a never-ending replay of a car crash that you can easily avoid, but choose not to. From various life experiences, these are the "Seven Deadly Attitudes," if you will, that might not necessarily keep you locked in purgatory, but which will make your life on Earth feel hellish.

7. Anger

No one likes an angry person. Someone who is perpetually red-faced is not nice to be around, but he is mostly harming himself. Having an angry attitude towards life means, roughly: lashing out at others and using anger to disguise more vulnerable emotions, such as pain and sorrow. Basically, you puff up like a porcupine or pufferfish, without really learning any life lessons. Angry people also tend to be more impulsive, to flare up, and say things they regret. If you are consistently angry, your angry actions become who you are. This is an attitude that should be avoided.

6. Pity

Whether it is pitying yourself or others, it is not a good state to be in. People who pity feign a sort of attachment to other peoples' pain, even though they have none. It is only an outside shell, much like anger. Even worse, those who pity themselves use the emotion as a shield from taking responsibility from their actions. "I pity myself. I am sad. I have no girlfriend/boyfriend, etc." To have a positive outlook on life, you must eliminate pity, or you will be stuck in the same cycle of feeling sorry for yourself without making a commitment to change anything.

5. Vanity

Simultaneously similar and the opposite of pity, vanity is dangerous because it makes us feel more important than others, eroding any sort of empathy you might have for your fellow human. We might think, "Yes, everyone has to work hard for their money, but I will be the exception; I will be the child-star/prodigy/messiah/Justin Bieber who will change the world." High expectations are not all bad to have, but thinking that you can achieve your goals simply by being yourself is vain and arrogant. Eliminate vanity from your life to engender a positive outlook.

4. Perfectionism

Perfectionism can bear its teeth in many ways: by overthinking the way you look, or by aiming to be the smartest, kindest, etc. person in the room and not allowing yourself to make mistakes. Perfectionism is self-destructive. The less you are able to accept failure, the more you are likely fail, or to stop trying, which will lead you to a sure path of disappointment. To have a positive outlook on life, you must accept the fact that some days you will mess up. And that's part of being mortal.

3. Invincibility

The opposite of perfectionism, invincibility is the belief you are superhuman, and you can get away with anything, from white lies to cheating to stealing loaves of bread. The person who feels invincible not only does not foresee the consequences of his actions, but also treats himself with disrespect, partaking in many self-destructive habits that he knows he will get away with/not die from. Humans are, unfortunately, not invincible: you must harbour compassion and be realistic in order to have a positive outlook on life.

2. Despair

Despair is one of the worst states of mind to be in. A person in despair sees only the bad in the world, and grieves for all humanity's suffering (which is romantic and grandiose, but puts an enormous strain on the individual). A person in despair focuses too much on death, on the worst-case-scenarios, on never achieving their goal, even though they can achieve it if they just changed their attitude.

1. Ambivalence

Perhaps the worst attitude of all is ambivalence. At least with the other deadly attitudes, you feel something. Ambivalence is dangerous: it causes you to disregard other peoples' time, their emotions...it causes you to become cold, self-loathing and self-serving at the same time...you eventually become ambivalent to living; you would rather simply exist, feeding all the primitive needs. A state of ambivalence turns us into animals, and no long-lasting goal can be achieved in this state of mind.