Positively b.e.e. is 2!

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, by which I may be financially compensated. See Disclosures for more info. 

It's an exciting time over here at positively b.e.e. Want to know why? 

That's right: it's positively b.e.e.'s 2nd birthday!

Two years ago today, I was FED UP with my social media feed, the news cycle, and people's negative attitudes about the world. Life is short, and I was just not down with living it mired in negativity any more.

So I started this blog as a way to try to disrupt those negative patterns. I wanted to give people a safe space where they could read something uplifting, learn something new, and engage with generally positive (but not 'fakey-sunshiney') content.

Many folks over the last two years have reached out in private or with a comment and told me what a post did for them, or how something I said helped them reframe a situation in their lives. That's very gratifying. I'm so glad I've been able to help people, and I love the interaction I have with my readers.

But I have a secret to share, too:

I might have been helping myself, too.

Yup. I'll be honest: I'm JUST AS MUCH IN NEED OF A PICK-ME-UP as anybody else out there.

So for positively b.e.e.'s birthday, I would like to ask you all for a gift. 🎁

No, really.

Not an ACTUAL, physical gift, but something meaningful all the same:

Please help me celebrate by telling me something good!

That's it! So simple, right?

TELL ME SOMETHING GOOD!

(I'm really only linking to Rufus and Chaka Khan because the song is called "Tell Me Something Good," and it's got a good bass line, LOL!)

I want to hear all about the good things in your lives, good things for the people you care about, or good things going on in the world. Any good things are much appreciated!

I'm letting you guys do MY job for a day! 😁

Drop me a comment below, on the Facebook page, or subscribers can shoot me an email, and tell me something good, okay?

I'll be waiting ...

In the meantime, thank you SO much for reading positively b.e.e. every time I make a post and for sharing your thoughts with me! You guys make my day all the time! Mwah! 💛🐝

 ~positively b.e.e. is on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. Follow me there!~

One Year Anniversary!

This post may contain affiliate links, by which I may be financially compensated. See Disclosures. 

Hi everyone! It's positively b.e.e.'s birthday today!! Yay!!

Photo by Bambi Corro on Unsplash

I am sooooo thrilled that this site is ONE YEAR OLD!! 

That is one full year of disrupting negativity, one post at a time! 

🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉 

I want to thank you all for being a part of it! 

To celebrate (and in lieu of a post tomorrow), let me do something that is typical of my mission statement from one year ago: today I am sharing the story of a person who, to me, is inspiring in some way. By focusing on something inspiring, negativity gets to take a back seat for a while. 

You ready? Let's do it!

⭐⭐⭐



I saw this story on YouTube's 60 Second Docs about a guy named Chuck, the People Walker. 

Here, let's let Chuck introduce himself, shall we? 

I love Chuck's story because it's a great example of how one person is using one of his most basic skills—just walking!—in a way that helps others. Now, he seems to be building a entire business out of it! 


Chuck is based in Los Angeles, a place not really known for its walkers. LA is a vehicle-based city, unlike other cities that incorporate a lot of bikes, busses, and trains. I once heard a joke that Angelenos get their walking in by going to and from their car. It seems that many people in LA get their exercise in gyms, with personal trainers, or hiking, surfing, rollerblading, etc. 


But what about those people (such as myself) who, for one reason or another, just want to take a walk? That's not really a city where people do that, as I observed on a trip there, myself, when I went to take a walk around my hotel and was looked at by hotel staff like I was nuts.


Chuck decided to help people get exercise and companionship by offering his services as a People Walker. He posted tear-off sheets on telephone poles to advertise, and wrote on a T-shirt with sharpie: The People Walker. 


Here's the important part, to me, of what Chuck has to offer: COMPANIONSHIP. We all need that in our lives, and you can tell just by watching him interact that he's a good listener and offers so much more than just walking around LA. 


For one thing, there are people who don't want to walk alone, whether due to safety, medical, or fear reasons, or they're just lonely. Others may not want or may not be able to pay for a personal trainer, and at a price-per-mile that is very low (only $7/mile at the time I read about it), this seems like a very accessible and affordable route to personal wellness.


Chuck seems to be taking the roadblocks away from getting exercise, plus, there's nothing like a nice chat with someone to make the miles go faster while we improve our health, right?


I noticed when I visited The People Walker website that I had to dig around a little to find Chuck's profile. It doesn't seem to be about him at all; just the service offered. He's now got quite a few people working in various locations throughout the Los Angeles area. Pretty cool, Chuck! 


I hope this story inspired you today! Perhaps you're thinking about what you have to offer others, or how you can utilize one of your basic skills to start a business? The sky's the limit, guys! This guy literally just gets dressed in his DIY t-shirt and goes walking! 


Have a fantastic week! And thanks for celebrating positively b.e.e.'s birthday with me by reading about The People Walker. 💛🐝

 ~positively b.e.e. is on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. Follow me there!~

Want to go walking right in your own home? I use these DVDs and love them!

A City as Symbol of Resilience

(This post may contain affiliate links, by which I may be financially compensated. See Disclaimers & Policies on my About page.)

Today's post is going to be part travel/local tourism blog and part lesson about resilience and remaking ourselves when what we're doing is no longer working for us.

The City of Pittsburgh has a long tradition of hard work, being synonymous with the mighty steel industry of days gone by.

Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash

When the steel industry suffered, Pittsburgh (and other cities who based their economy on steel) suffered along with it for a period of time. But Pittsburgh ended up surprising me!

When I first visited this city with my now-husband (who is a native of this fine town), I was expecting something like what I'd seen in old pictures: dirty, polluted air, bad traffic, and a sea of black and gold everywhere.

I was pleasantly surprised to find, well, still a sea of black and gold (sports pride is a big thing here!), but otherwise there were pretty, blue skies; majestic, green hills; beautiful neighborhoods and architecture; universities, museums, galleries, and shops; and an interesting incorporation of the old steel town heritage with a new and blossoming tech industry. Since that first visit many years ago, I have often seen Pittsburgh rank on the best places to live in the country.

It speaks to a sort of resilience, doesn't it? Where other cities struggled during the economic downturn, Pittsburgh seemed to remain fairly stable with both unemployment rates and cost of living, and now there is job growth projected in future. When the old ways in the steel industry no longer served, this city reinvented itself as a hub of future industry in the tech and healthcare spaces, instead.

Now, companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook all have offices here, as do a variety of tech startups (Duolingo and Wombat Security, for example) and several self-driving car companies (Uber, Argo AI and Aurora Innovation) have set up shop here. Pittsburgh also put in a bid for the new Amazon east coast HQ, and the Pittsburgh Technology Council released a really jam-packed tech map of the city.

Tech companies are attracted to the many highly-trained students coming out of Carnegie Mellon University, and University of Pittsburgh is known for cutting-edge medical research, the sum of which is that Pittsburgh is now a hub for robotics, computer vision, computer science, and healthcare vocations.

Indeed, there have been billboard signs seen in Silicon Valley enticing people to come live and work here, where housing is still available and affordable. Inc.com lists Pittsburgh as the "best startup city in America."

Check out this really cool video on how Pittsburgh has remade itself from Steel Giant to Tech Giant. I am very impressed with how my adopted city looks.

Positive press aside, Pittsburgh is just a nice place to live. This post is in honor of the 10th anniversary of my move to Pittsburgh, and I still love it here. What I love MOST about Pittsburgh is the people. They, like their city, are tough, resilient, and friendly. And this won't be my only post on Pittsburgh, to be sure. There is so much to talk about, be on the lookout for future content about things to do here.

I think we can all take something away from this, right? That it is never too late to reinvent ourselves when we need to in order to not only survive, but to THRIVE.

Drop me a line below or on social media, and let me know: have you been to Pittsburgh, or wanted to? Or tell me something cool about where you live! 🐝

~ positively b.e.e. is on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. Follow me there! ~

P.S.: This book on Pittsburgh looks pretty cool!

Milestone: 6-month Anniversary!

This post may contain affiliate links, by which I may be financially compensated. See Disclosures & Policies on my About page.

Hello there! Today is an important day! Well...it's not technically today, but February doesn't have 30 days, so we're celebrating today.

Six months ago, on August 30th, I launched positively b.e.e. as a way to offer a respite from the negativity in the world.

Happy 6-month-a-versary to positively b.e.e.!! 

Photo by Sofiya Levchenko on Unsplash

Readership has been great, so I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing for another six months, and another six months, and another six months ....

Comment below and let me know, is there something you'd like to see here in the next six months? What topics do you want to see? What do you want to know?

Thank you for reading and sharing! Your support is truly appreciated!

xo,
Beth (b.e.e.)
🐝

 ~~ positively b.e.e. is on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. Follow me there! ~~

Milestone

Today, positively b.e.e. reached a small but significant milestone!

Exactly one month ago today, I launched this site to bring more positivity, light, joy, and gratitude to the world, and I’m thrilled you’ve joined me for the journey.

In the past month, there have been over a thousand visitors to positively b.e.e. from all over the world! And the Facebook page has reached 122 likes as of this writing. YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!

I’m wondering if I can ask you a small favor? I’ve received many kind messages/PMs/comments from you, telling me what this site and its purpose means to you. If you are enjoying what you see here, would you be willing to help me to grow outreach for this little nugget of positivity on the web?

Tell your friends and family. Link to the blog. Share and "like" the Facebook page. Any of these actions will help me get the message out: that life is worth living; that there are good things in the world, even when it seems scary or dark or contentious; that there are better ways of dealing with difficult things; and that fun and beauty are worth noticing and sharing with others.

Thank you, ALL of you, for reading, sharing, commenting, or sending in your support. However you use this site, it’s for you. Knowing that positively b.e.e. can make a difference in someone’s life is why I write. Let’s all “bee” positive together!

<3 <3 <3

-- Beth (b.e.e.)