I was texting my best friend after work a story about an amazing interaction I had with a stranger. It was, as it normally is, a story of “good”. She responded with a text that said: “The amount of positivity you draw is insane.” And I was like, wow! What a perspective. Is that true? Wait, does everyone not live like this? I experience joy and positivity often in some of the most unexpected places. If I am lucky enough to tell you the stories of all the amazing people I have met, that will make me so happy! And that led me to thinking… “is that normal?”. And I don’t think it is.
As a child, one of my favorite movies was the 1960 Disney Film Pollyanna with Hayley Mills. Have you seen it? It’s on Disney+, I checked, and you’re welcome. According to Google, it is a film about “an orphan who brightens the lives of everyone she meets”. Themes include the power of positive thinking, helping others, and expecting the best from everyone. It really is a great film, which I know now is based on the 1913 novel by Eleanor H. Porter. I am starting to wonder just how much of that sunk in with how many times I had seen it.
I choose joy and look for joy so much that I often feel others will find me disingenuous. I would like to think that I choose kindness more often than not, although I would like to be the first person to tell you that for sure I can be an asshole from time to time. I expect people to choose the right thing, and I feel physical disappointment when I am proven wrong. I have a difficult time grasping the concept of things like greed, or intentional harmfulness.
That is not to say I do not think they exist. I know they do. I see the world around me. Try as I might, I have yet to successfully bury my head in the proverbial sand. But I think for me, it’s more about which side of the coin I am focusing on, and which side of the coin I am leaving for others. And maybe that’s not “normal”, but I am thankful to get to be a part of it. 🙂
