We all know what it’s like to dwell on a negative experience from our past, thinking that it determines some important aspects of our lives such as relationships with other people. The reality is that we tend to overreact to criticism or negative experiences and neglect the positive ones, which makes us see ourselves through the so-called negative bias.
This psychological phenomenon is part of the reason why first impressions are so important to us. Not only do we tend to remember people the way they were when we first met them, but we also often dwell on the impression we left on them, especially if we did something to embarrass ourselves. The thing is, people will rarely remember something negative that happened to us, but we will likely never let it go.
Focusing on the negative can make you strive for perfection (which is impossible) and mess up your motivation, focus, and overall mental health.
