Fighting Back with Positivity – From the Editor

Positivity has never been my strong suit. I’m more of a ‘think of the worst possible scenario and play it on repeat’ kind of gal. Suffice to say, 2020 has not been my best year (or it has, if we’re counting spirals of crippling anxiety). So when I sat down to talk with this year’s Wonder Women (socially distanced and masked up, of course) I was prepared to hear some heavy stories. After all, these women had gone through so much more than I had working through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. And yet, they were surprisingly positive.

And that got me thinking about my own views on positivity. Personally, I’ve always seen it as a defense, a way to bury your head in the sand and pretend everything is A-OK. But these women, they used their positivity as a weapon of sorts, fighting back against every challenge this year had to throw at them. They pushed back despair with tales of hope and kindness. They vaulted over obstacles with cries of ‘I can do this!’ They showed me that positivity can be a source of undeniable strength.

And while I don’t think I’ll be slaying my own negativities anytime soon, my own fears and doubts seem to be at least a little quieter. And that’s something to be positive about.