Interacting With Others Helps Me Maintain My Peace Of Mind
We Need To Separate Ourselves From The Situation
We all have parts of our lives that are more difficult than others, and the said parts usually consist of us staring in roles others feel no one else could play. Out of love, a sense of obligation, or guilt we buckle down and do what’s expected of us. But like with all things, doing too much of anything will eventually become unbearable. What may have started as a joy, will begin to seem like a burden. Positive energy will be tested to its core when this happens, so we need to separate ourselves from the situation, if for nothing more than thirty minutes to an hour. Safeguarding our peace of mind should always be priority number one, seeing the thought is the start and end of all things. As we think and believe, so shall our life go. If we think we need to take a break and believe this will help us to maintain our peace of mind, then, by all means, we should follow our first mind.
Positive Place
January 1, 2020, 12:00 pm EST, I was sitting in my room thinking of ways to put my overactive imagination to good use. I came up with some great concepts for short stories, but then the idea that would eventually change everything overtook my entire thought process. The idea in question was to reach out to every writer I knew and ask if I could interview them. So, I hit Instagram and started to DM all those I had established a relationship with beyond social media. To my surprise, everyone I ran the said idea by loved it. So, starting that evening, from 7 pm to 8 pm EST, Positive Place was born. I ended up interviewing 31 people via Instagram Live and the people who showed up to look/listen, was amazing. The following month almost everyone who participated in the beginning, came back, but this time to read what they had written. And those who couldn’t make it back were replaced by people who liked what they saw/heard in the beginning, so again, I had 31 guests. Positive Place was officially a hit, my DM stayed flooded with requests to appear in the place to be. I had created my temporary escape, from a very real, and at times, stressful reality. For the hour Positive Place was in effect I was in heaven, I mean I was truly at my happiest.
Everything Changed For The Worse
With guests lined up for the next six months, I was dealing with my situations outside of Positive Place in a positive manner. Just the thought that I’d be able to sit and listen to someone miles away kept my mind at ease. But then March 11, 2020, life as we knew it, changed forever.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020, has declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a global pandemic (1).
Needless to say, Positive Place was the furthest thing on anyone’s mind, including mine. I believe it’s safe to say that everyone was focused on not trying to catch something we didn’t know exactly where it was being thrown from. Eventually, there was a mandatory lockdown of the planet’s population, just typing that seemed unreal. Wherever we were we’d be indefinitely, and no one was exempt from this rule. Our movement was reduced to grocery shopping and other necessities, no random motion was allowed. But despite this fact, hundreds of thousands of people would contract this deadly dis-ease and unfortunately, physically left this Earth because of it. My sincerest condolences to all the families that were left to live with memories of those they love, which includes my own.
Positive Place Makes A Comeback
With Positive Place no longer being the primary option for me to temporarily escape my very real reality, I turned to writing. I wrote as a man possessed, so much so I was left with enough content where if I no longer wanted to write, I wouldn’t have to. And during the lockdown, I discovered I wasn’t the only one writing as if my sanity depended on me doing so. My Instagram DM was being flooded with poems, snippets of short stories, book concepts, etc. The request to bring back Positive Place was so overwhelming that I couldn’t ignore it, nor did I want to. So, everyday people would just come in and talk about what they were doing during a time that had us all on edge. It wasn’t about discussing problems, but talking about ways of being productive with the unlimited free time we found ourselves in possession of. Positive Place also inspired former guests to create their own platforms, which also offered creatives space to showcase their talents. And I was invited to be a guest on each of the said platforms, which was a memorable moment indeed. And to this day, Positive Place is still in effect. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, from 9 pm to 10 pm EST, Positive Place is made possible via Instagram Live. It offers not only myself a temporary means of escape from very real realities, but also everyone else who graces the place to be with their presence as well.
In closing. There’s good to be found in a bad situation, we just can’t get so caught up focusing on the negative that we lose sight of this fact. I created a platform that has produced numerous connections, that has inspired creative writers to become published authors, that has shown people that verbally speaking isn’t the only way they can have their voices heard. Positive Place is a beacon, which was never meant to be just my place, but the place for all who need to temporarily escape very real realities for an hour as well.
"I'll Never Lead You Astray."