Discussion: Staying Positive

~ Never Not Reading

I had another discussion post, but I deleted it. Because you know what the world doesn’t need? More negativity. More ranting. More soapboxes.

It’s been a rough year. COVID. Race relations. LGBTQ rights. There have been some great things, some celebrations, but overall I think we can all agree the last few months have been HARD. We’ve been lonely, afraid, hurting. There’s been so much, how could you even summarize it in a sentence? 2020 has been a total dumpster fire.

But life keeps going. We keep living. And to make it through, we HAVE to stay positive. We have to focus on those victories. So here are a few of mine from the last few months:

  • I finished my last grad school class with a 4.0.
  • I passed my librarian certification exam.
  • We moved to a beautiful new house in the city I work in.
  • No commute!
  • I read some FABULOUS middle grade books that are reminding me of the goodness of humanity.
  • Speaking of books, re-reading the Daevabad books, and THEY ARE SO GOOD!!!!
  • I was brave enough to talk to my brother about my religion, and he doesn’t hate me.
  • My kids are beautiful and getting smarter every day. They love Narwhal and Jelly.
  • My husband and I re-discovered The New Girl and aaaalllll of the amazingness that is Nick.

What’s keeping you going? What joys and celebrations have you had the last few months? Let’s talk about it in the comments.

Love you guys.

23 thoughts on “Discussion: Staying Positive”

  1. You had some wonderful accomplishments during this time…congratulations on them all! Living alone, now, this time has been especially difficult for me. I’ve stayed healthy and carried on with family/friend communication, writing groups, and book club through email or Zoom. A big change that has helped me is to set aside most of my previous and rather boring freelance work to take on more exciting editing AND writing projects. I wrote a series of leveled readers for an online education materials provider, which was one of my favorites. What’s next in life? Not sure, but I hope it includes a vaccine option…

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  2. I’ve been attempting to do a lot of self-care. My bullet-journal has a positivity page which is depressingly blank, haha. I need to sit down and look at the bright side of things. One thing I AM excited about is that it looks like change may finally be coming.

    You’ve got an amazing list of accomplishments, congrats on your new house and library license! I can’t wait until Empire of Gold comes out. I’ll need to read a recap somewhere.

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    1. I’ve had to be *really* disciplined with the positivity section of my journal. Sometimes it’s just that dinner tasted good, or that my family is healthy. I’ve been really trying to focus on the little things. I am also hopeful that all of this difficulty is finally leading us toward some positive change.

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  3. Congratulations on all the good stuff going for you. You deserve it!

    I am half-way through a five week Shakespeare class. I have had zero contact with the Bard my entire life, but I thought I’d give him a try and I am loving it. I think I have a knack for the guy.

    Happy Trails!

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      1. I am absolutely loving it! The teacher said that we did not have to be off-book on the material we are working with, but I am anyway. I am off-book with a sonnet, two monologues, and have more in the works. A friend said she would work a scene with me. I doubt I will ever get to perform any Shakespeare, but I love that this whole new world is opened to me. I saw somewhere that Shakespeare is meant to inspire, not intimidate. I have taken that to heart.

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        1. I was taught somewhere once that Shakespeare was meant to be watched, not read, and since then I’ve tried to find more movies and recordings of stage productions. But I’m not super disciplined about it, lol.

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          1. I have been told that Shakespeare was meant to be read aloud, and not in your head. I have found a marvelous way to enjoy him is to read along with the audio recording. I read/listened to ‘Hamlet’ that way and it was amazing.

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    1. My kids have sometimes been a big source for positivity, but also a big source of my anxiety and loneliness. It’s hard to connect with adults when I spend so much time with them, and they don’t exactly make for great conversation. Plus they are literally destroying our house. They’re just ready to NOT be stuck at home after almost 4 months, you know?

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      1. I know! Mine is just 1.7 yrs old and she already miss going out. And as for destruction, she got pen in her hands when we were not looking and drew lines on wall! I want to remove stains with vinegar but I can’t find it in store since 2 weeks.

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  6. What a great idea!
    Congratulations on your good things and it’s uncanny how mine parallel yours.
    -We moved too this year. In our case, to the American West and nearer to my parents.
    -I took up painting now that I live among all these Western landscapes.
    -Had some hard, but good, things happen in my extended family, kind of like with you and your brother.
    -My kids are great too of course! I have a sensitive, spacey artist; a brilliant, super-stubborn dynamo; and a sweet, practical people person with social skills I can only dream of.
    -Instead of getting certified as a librarian, I started down the path of self-publishing.
    Best to you!

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  7. With everything that’s been going on the world, it’s easy to get lost in the first. I’ve definitely been feeling the mental strain of that as well, and I’m over here in The Netherlands where the fires have been relatively small in comparison to some other parts of the world.

    First of all, though, even though we don’t know one another yet, I want to congratulate you on passing your last grad school class, passing your librarian certification exam and moving! Those are some huge milestones, so congrats! 🙂

    As for me.. I’ve been focusing on the smaller things because the big things are still quite scary and tend to overwhelm me. I’ve been keeping a positivity journal, I’ve been exercising regularly, I’ve been making some pretty good headline when it comes to figuring out what it is I want to do professionally in the near future (I’m a content manager and translator, but I’ve been wanting to make a career switch for a while now because my current field of work isn’t making me happy) and I just started a little book and mental health blog which I’m super excited about (which is also how I found your website, been blog hopping like crazy today— which is a really fun pastime, I’ve found!).

    And finally, nice to meet you, and my apologies for the super lengthy first comment on your blog! 🙂

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    1. It’s nice to meet you too! My positivity journaling has been a real game changer for me in the last several years too. Right now I think it’s especially hard to stay positive because I know I feel guilt that I’m worried about “staying positive” when people are literally dying. Shouldn’t I be a witness to their suffering? But I think you can be a witness to people’s suffering and still be positive. At least, I hope so…

      Good luck on your career change! I’ve done it twice now, and it sure is scary. It’s been worth it for me though. 🙂

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  8. New Girl is so cringe, but like it’s also SO GOOD. I love Schmit, and of course Nick. It’s just so funny, but cringy, but fun. So I get it lol

    Delayed congrats on library stuff! I actually have no idea if I ever congratulated you or not, but if not, CONGRATS! WELCOME TO THE CLUB 🙂

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