Positivity: the practice of being or tendency to be positive or optimistic in attitude. Resilience: the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. Below is a list Jo Wade, President of Visit Lafayette-West Lafayette, shares of interesting stories from history and experts sharing thoughts on positive ideas and resilience. The articles and advice been a positive mood booster to Jo and we hope to you as well.

Jo shares the following:

  1. In an article/blog titled Is the Pandemic Making You Smarter by Nick Tasler. He told the story of Isaac Newton discovering gravity during his time in quarantine. Newton was in quarantine for the 1665 bubonic plaque in the London area. He was an undistinguished mathematician sent home to quarantine; Newton noticed an apple fall from a tree. This was not the first time but for some reason this mundane event struck him as interesting and the rest is history. Newton during this same time revolutionized science of optics and invented calculus. Gosh I have a lot more work to do during quarantine! This is a story I believe I’ll always remember; without distractions your mind is able to creatively think about your interests.
  2. In a great article on resilience, The Stockdale Paradox: How Optimism Creates Resilience, by Daniel Honan, Stockdale explains surviving torture and isolation in a Hanoi prison. Stockdale’s strategy was to meld hope with realism “the need for absolute, unwavering faith that you can prevail...the discipline to begin by confronting the brutal facts, whatever they are.” Quarantine is not close to what Stockdale went through, so YES, we can do this sit out time easily enough, we’ve got it!
  3. In an article by Michelle Thaller who works at NASA, Ask an astronomer: How do astronauts deal with isolation? Michelle states from her research talking to astronauts “Setting and maintaining a schedule can help you and your body return to a more normal state, as can finding familiar sensory inputs. For astronauts, that includes Earthly scents like citrus.” I couldn’t agree more that for me getting ready for my day with my dog Bubba and my workouts, then for the rest of my day in my home office have helped me feel more normal. Also, having my webinars and chats scheduled for the week and making the best use of my time laid out helps this working from home, work much better for me. Good normal smells for me help as well, so carry out from the local restaurants I love is a must.
  4. An article by Tanveer Naseer, What Growing An Orchid Taught Me About How To Successfully Change And Adapt, speaks to the orchids being ‘too fussy to grow’ and once they are losing the blooms and not being able get them to flower again. Then his wife brought home an orchid that had been a gift and asked him to care for it. With a bit of research and time her orchid did bloom again, three times, with Naseer accepting the different needs of this plant and adapting. Naseer states, “I’m confident that those of us who will find a new path, a new course to succeed and thrive will not be those who prefer to stick to the past. Instead, it will be those who decide to take a chance on tending to build and nurturing their own type of orchid so that when this storm finally passes, they might get it to bloom once more.” I’m working on the thought of growing orchids and getting them to bloom often.
  5. Rebecca Ryan is a futurist and was in our community working a few years ago. She has always been a favorite of mine and I follow her blogs and now participate in her wonderful workshops during this quarantine time. A favorite blog posting she had shortly after I was working from home was What Do Good Leaders Do When Anxiety is Running High. In this posting this statement was was very memorable for me: "Let's talk about toilet paper… People aren't wired to change so many behaviors at once. They feel off-balance. So they're reaching for toilet paper and other supplies to help them feel more steady, more stable, more "in control." I had needed this TP over buying issue explained to me. I feel much better now that I know the people over buying TP are feeling off-balanced.

We hope these articles share some positivity in your life. If you have a positive message or article that has impacted you, please share. We love to hear and share them!