Getting in touch with positivity again

Umuzi Pulse brought to you by Andrew Levy

Every once in a while, amid the endless parade of dog and cat memes, surfboards slicing through waves, DIY life hacks that you’ll never try, and — oh yes — those endless pictures of my mom’s flower-filled hikes, something different scrolls by on social media. Something that, just as you're about to scroll past it, like a stealthy ninja avoiding eye contact with the algorithm (because heaven forbid you watch one image of how to burp your baby and then get bombarded with a thousand more of it), you pause. And there it is, a nugget of wisdom. The kind of wisdom you didn’t even know you needed, but now, here you are, glad that you’ve been gently nudged into noticing it.

Let’s rewind a bit to give you the full picture. It’s 2020, Remember that? The year we all learned that the “great outdoors” really just meant walking in circles around your house until the neighbours started asking questions on the neighbourhood WhatsApp group. It was the year of sourdough starters, zoom fatigue, and global pandemic panic.?

People who know me — really know me — understand that I’m a people person. I thrive on human connection. I gain energy from being around others. I’m the guy who invites everyone to everything. Then, suddenly, COVID-19 hits, and my world shrinks from seeing 500 bright young faces a day to just three: my family. For a year and a half. Talk about a people person’s nightmare.

The optimist in me? Yeah, that guy took a backseat. The world, in all its unpredictability, became this gray, warped version of itself. South Africa, my home, was struggling to find its footing after the pandemic, weighed down by economic turmoil, political corruption, and a mass exodus of friends from Johannesburg. The rainbow nation felt like it had lost its colour, and so did I.

Now here’s the thing about a shift in perspective: it’s like a surprise plot twist in a telenovela — blink once, and suddenly Brooke is marrying Ridge’s father for the 6th time this year...

One minute, you're that glass-half-full person; the next, you're seeing the cracks in the glass, the dirty fingerprints smudging it and wondering if the water’s even drinkable. I found myself focusing on the negatives — what was wrong, broken, corrupt — instead of the good in people and situations.

It’s easy, too easy, to get lost in the doom-and-gloom narrative, especially when the world is genuinely in pain. From regional wars to environmental disasters to billionaires competing in the ‘Whose Rocket Looks More Like a Phallic Symbol’ contest, it’s enough to make anyone jaded. And, boy, was I jaded. The external noise drowned out my internal dialogue, and I was sinking.

Then came that social media post, the one I almost scrolled past. A simple instruction:

"Go to your notes on your phone. Write a heading: ‘Good things keep happening to me.’ And document them."

That’s it. No catchy hashtag, no influencer trying to sell you a wellness retreat. Just a simple, unadorned task. So, I tried it. And what happened next? Well, it was nothing short of life-changing.

What I realized is that we’ve become conditioned to expect that ‘good things’ have to be these grand, cinematic moments—fireworks, life-changing events, the stuff of Influencer highlight reels. But what if the good things are smaller? More subtle? The kind of things that, if you’re not paying attention, you might just overlook?

Bean played catchers with ducks and it was delightful?

Bean, my dog, In, in all her doggy glory, chased after ducks, splashing through the river like a furry torpedo. The ducks, just out of reach, would take off and land a little further downriver, playing their own game of ‘Catch me if you can.’ It was pure joy, watching her, feeling the sun on my face.

I learned a new card trick and it worked. “Pick a card, any card.” The sheer delight of mastering it (okay, maybe not mastering it, but close enough) and sharing it with friends and family. Some laughed at my clumsiness, others were genuinely amazed. Either way, it was a moment of connection, of magic, of fun.

My Mango tree revived itself. I grew it from a seed, nurtured it, and then nearly lost it when I had to transplant it. I’d given up hope. But then, out of nowhere, it started growing again. New life, new leaves. It was a small thing, but it felt huge.

These might seem trivial or even pathetic, but that’s kind of the point. Good things do keep happening to us, but we’ve trained ourselves not to see them. Or worse, we take them for granted. When you start documenting these small moments, you realize just how much you’ve been missing.

The exercise didn’t make the bad stuff disappear. The world is still full of challenges, pain, and uncertainty. But it did give me a new perspective. An outlook that doesn’t ignore the dark but also makes room for the light. Because life, as messy and complicated as it is, is both.

So, here’s my suggestion: try it. Open a note on your phone, title it ‘Good things keep happening to me,’ and start jotting things down. Big, small, it doesn’t matter. Just take note.

And who knows? In a world that feels increasingly sick, lonely, and broken, this simple exercise might just be the most profound, life-affirming thing you can do. After all, as we’ve learned in the past few years, it’s the small things that often make the biggest difference.