Should we believe what gives us strength or accept what makes us weak?

That question. I just had an intense internal battle between my positive outlook in life and another's negative outlook.

For weeks, I tried to stay positive and happy. But the negative energy of people, multiplied by their number, bullied me into thinking that the result of what we were trying to achieve would be negative.

Weeks, and weeks. I said positive affirmations, and I got bombarded by pessimism. The light inside me died little by little. And I tried to mask my awed sadness and tried to fight to keep that light.

In the end, I let the negatives control me and failed miserably.

Should I not have listened to them, and cut my ties with them, it would have been entirely different.