Who or what are the positive influences in your life? No famous people.

No famous people really are. So that works.

1) My family is a good place to start. They're flawed, of course. But they're solid people. My mom is virtually a saint. She's the most good and pure woman I've ever known (or at least tied with her mother). My dad's kind of a jerk sometimes but he really is a damn good dude. He puts his life in danger at age 63 as a volunteer firefighter. So he gets out of bed at 3AM, having to get up for work at 5AM to help people and he gets NO pay for it.
My brother and sister are awesome people, too. They've both been through a lot and they've overcame and are overcoming it all.
My dad's mom virtually raised me and I credit her for almost everything that I am.
Then there's my son. I can say with certainty that I wouldn't be here today if not for him.

2) My friends are pretty big too.
My best friend Tara is an incredibly strong woman. She doesn't seem to see her strength but it's there. She's got plenty of shit, but knowing someone like her exists and seeing her strength makes me a more positive person. And now I see that I can choose to be positive or not to be positive. So I choose to be positive for me and for her. She doesn't need anymore negativity.
My friend Karen's great at beating positivity into me. She thinks I'm more down on myself than I am, though. But she doesn't hold back or bullshit which is what I expect and desire from all of my friends.
CoCo is someone I don't really know well. But to say that she hasn't had a major, positive influence on me would be a load of bunk. She helped me see so much stuff differently.
I don't want to leave anyone out, but if you're my friend you're one of them. Otherwise you wouldn't be in my life.

3) Me. I have goals. I want things in life. My ambition isn't obvious to everyone but don't mistake me for someone without a truckload of ambition... I really do think I'm a great person. But there's always room for improvement. And I want to be happy. Others can assist me in being happy but only if I allow it in myself.
I'm also able to step back and analyze things. I can step back and see what in my life and environment makes things bad. The two most underrated are SLEEP and EATING RIGHT! Depression makes both of those hard or seem unimportant, but you have to force yourself to do both or things WILL NOT improve.

4) Music.
I can't remember a time in my life where music wasn't on my mind like... 90% of the time. I'm lucky enough to love MUSIC as a whole and not genre by genre. So I am flexible and I can listen to and enjoy lots of things if I give them a chance.
I love angry music. It's probably half of my library. But I know that the biggest parts of my life need to be positive if I'm going to be positive. When I made that realization, a large part of my metal library went un-played and I amped up the Cat Stevens, John Lennon, Prince, Queen, Bob Dylan, Kottonmouth Kings (they're like 80% positive, damn it!), etc.
So now I'm humming and singing things like "I was once like you are now, and I know that it's not easy to be calm when you've found something going on. But take your time, think a lot. Think of everything you've got. For you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not."...
That's a huge deal. People don't realize how big of a deal it is. Give it a chance.

5) A lack of crappy people.
I've always tried to keep crappy people out of my life. Not that I don't love them. I do. But I know there are people who want things from me. They want me around because I can benefit them and that's their sole concern. I'm not cool with that. I don't put up with it. Those people have no place in my life right now. I'm still very polite and kind to them (that's just me), but I don't let them drag me down.

6) Prince (Sorry! His overall positive/not depressing music has helped me A LOT!)

Wow... That was a lot. Good question though, anonymous person!

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