Beginnings

It was a year ago in May that I took a solo vacation to Folley Beach, S.C. This was a personal challenge for me. You may say, “big deal,” but for me, it was a very big deal! Through that experience, I changed and grew.

For months, I had planned and talked about this beach vacation. I discussed it with my co-workers, most of whom were well-traveled. They were happy for me and cheered me on. I planned every detail. There were a lot of firsts for me. One example would be booking a flight. Through it all, I felt very accomplished. Of course, there were some who could not believe I would ever go by myself. Others wondered why I would want to go alone, and some were very worried. None of this distracted me from my goal. Finally, the day before my vacation I told my co-workers I would even make videos so they would know how I was getting along. I posted the videos to Facebook.

I arrived at my destination, started settling in, and remembered what I had proudly spoken — that I would make daily videos. What was I thinking? I can’t do that! I don’t speak well! What would I say? All these negative thoughts about myself filled my head, yet one thought pushed through — you said you would — so I did.

You could tell I was very nervous as I talked about my first day on vacation. The next day, the video was easier. I began to get more comfortable with each one I made. In fact, something happened. I began to change. I was no longer concerned about how I sounded, what I looked like, or whether I had made a mistake. It was just me being very vulnerable and real. What I noticed too was the outpouring of encouragement from so many people. It seemed through my sharing my experiences, others were inspired to step out and do new things. This gave me a feeling that I had done a really good thing. I was helping someone.

I want to believe it was as it seemed because I received countless messages telling me just that — how I had inspired people and how they would miss my daily videos. That’s when it happened — the idea of The Positive Porch.

It was like being given a gift that I unwrapped and gracefully accepted — an opportunity that I grabbed and ran with. It was a chance to do good just by speaking positively. I began to make live unrehearsed morning videos daily in which I basically told people good things — all posted to Facebook. I’ve been very consistent in making my videos, and now that I have regular followers who count on me every day to tell them everything is going to be O.K. and remind them to go do great things. There have been times that I’ve thought of giving it up believing it doesn’t matter only to be told it does.

Anne Murray wrote a song in the ‘80s titled “A Little Good News.” In a world filled with so much negative news, I am beyond blessed to share a little positivity right from my front porch. I’ll close now as I do every morning on The Positive Porch.

Go do great things. Go be a blessing to somebody, and I know you’ll be blessed.