What does a Positive Person Look Like? And does a Drunk Person's Opinion Really Count?

Welcome to Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

I'm your host, Kevin Lowe, and I'm excited to welcome you inside.

This is the kind of place where your glass will never be anything other than half full because we choose to focus on the positive side of life.

Now, this doesn't mean that we shy away from the real talk.

No, not a chance.

Matter of fact, we explore all aspects of life.

From the good, the bad, and the ugly.

But all of that is done with one purpose.

unknown: One purpose.

SPEAKER_00: To inspire you to never give up on life, even when it may seem like life has given up on you.

Now I get it, life is hard.

But starting today, you've got grit, grace, and inspiration.

What's going on and how are you today?

This is your host as well as transformational life and business coach, Kevin Lowe.

Today I am bringing you episode 156 as we are kicking off February 2023.

Today's episode is gonna be a little bit different than most because, well, I'm inviting you into a conversation.

A conversation that I've been having with myself.

Yes, don't think I'm crazy.

You know you talk to yourself also.

Don't look at me like that for Pete's sake.

Instead, I'm trying to get you to talk with me because I want to talk to you about something that has been on my mind.

And I've been trying to think about how do I turn it into a podcast episode, something that you can be involved in on the thinking process while at the same time, hopefully being something that can have you reflecting on your own life.

And so what I'm talking about is this topic of what does positivity look like?

Or what does it mean to be positive?

I mean, for Pete's sake, how do you know that you are indeed positive or negative or heck, neutral for that matter?

Or I guess more specifically, in regards to what I'm talking about, is how do you know that somebody is positive or negative?

What is it about them that has you think to yourself, oh man, stay away, negative person, or oh baby, I need some more of that person in my life because they got some positive energy flowing?

What is that?

What attribute does that person have that makes you think, man, they are really positive?

As I said, I've been left to ponder this question, wondering, how do we know that somebody is positive or negative?

Or more importantly, what do people think about us?

What do people think about me?

Because here's the thing, and this is what's tricky about it.

Just because somebody is smiling, laughing, joking, having a good time, that doesn't necessarily mean that they're a positive person.

That just means that they're having fun in the moment.

Even negative people can have some fun.

So, how do you know, though, that somebody is positive?

So let me explain why I'm even thinking about this, why I felt it so important to talk to you about it, and well, and just kind of give you a little insight on where I'm coming from.

I was recently at a birthday party for my cousin, and it was being held at this really cool restaurant/slash bar, one of the kind of places with a big outside deck, has the live music going on.

People are kind of mingling, and you know, they got the high top tables, they got the low tables where people are, you know, dining on dinner, and then the high top tables people are sitting at, catching up with friends over drinks and appetizers, and just kind of a whole lot of mingling happening, and it's just got that kind of fun vibe going on.

Now, I was one of the first people to arrive to the party, and right off the bat, though, there was a guy who was there who immediately, I mean, immediately, was like, oh my gosh, you are one of the most positive people I have ever met in my life.

And I'm like, okay, yeah, nice to meet you too.

Now, I will admit, this guy had obviously already been there for a little while, had already had a fair share to drink.

And so, you know, his opinion, you know, I don't know, I guess you could take it with a grain of salt.

But regardless, this dude made it clear that I, Kevin Lowe, was just radiating positivity right off the bat.

But it didn't just stop with the first encounter.

Because literally all through the night, as our table was packed full of people, the restaurant was slammed.

Every time he'd walk by me, he'd give me a hug from behind and remind me.

He's like, Man, you are so positive.

You are the most positive person I have ever met.

I believe he started referring to me as a ray of sunshine.

Now, of course, as I said, he was already a bit drunk when we got there.

By this point, he's continuing to drink.

So, again, you know, his opinion might be, you know, a little bit slated, but regardless, he made it clear that he knew that I was one positive guy.

Now, at this point, he just knew that I was blind.

So I thought, you know what?

Let's blow his mind a little.

So I asked him, I said, hey man, I said, where'd you go to high school?

He told me, Seabreeze.

I'm like, oh, sweet.

I'm like, yeah, I went to Seabreeze also.

And he's like, oh, cool, cool.

And so we compare what years we graduated with one another.

And I say to him, I said, yeah, I said, well, I actually um, you know, I didn't become blind till I was a junior at Seabreeze.

You know, that's when I went blind from a brain tumor.

And I kind of gave him a brief rundown of my story.

This, of course, took him totally by surprise, totally blew his mind.

And through the whole initial shock of me telling this him my story, he came back to what he kept saying at the beginning.

Man, you are such a positive guy.

You are Mr.

Positivity.

And I believe by night's end, it kind of kept going pretty much the same way.

With another hug from behind, another, I just love you, man.

You are the most positive person I have ever met.

Now, there's a point to this story more than just to tell you about this crazy encounter.

Because to be quite honest, I had no intention of sharing this story here on the podcast until I started to ponder this question.

I started thinking, out of all the people at the restaurant that night, why was it me who he saw as being so incredibly positive?

I mean, goodness knows, there was many more people laughing louder, telling more jokes, having more fun, dancing.

I mean, all the things that you could say, wow, those are some very positive people.

I mean, me, I was just sitting at the table, eating some appetizers, talking with people, having a good time, but by no means was I the center of attention, the star of the show.

And then that's when it hit me.

Could it be that being seen as positive is relative to your situation?

I was the only guy in our group that night, or possibly in the entire restaurant, who had a visible disability.

I was blind.

That was evident from the cane I was carrying.

In essence, you could say that I was the one person there that night who had something wrong with me.

I was the one person who had something happen to me, something completely out of my control that robbed me of so much, that robbed me of my life, that robbed me of my ability to see.

I guess you could say that if anyone had a reason, an excuse to not be positive at that party, it was me.

And yet, despite all of that, I had a smile on my face.

I was laughing, I was having a good time, I was talking with people.

I guess you could say I was flipping the script.

And by me flipping the script on my situation, it made him realize something.

Now, maybe other people realized it too, but they weren't as drunk as him.

And so when you get drunk, you tend to just say stuff that's on your mind.

And some people even say the crazy stuff that you say when you're drunk is the truth.

Now, I'm no scientist, I don't know.

I'm not even going there, so I can leave that up to you to figure that one out.

But this guy spoke it.

He spoke what was on his mind.

Was that when he saw me and he saw me in this situation, and yet I was enjoying life.

I was smiling, I was laughing, I was living my life as if nothing was wrong.

I was being positive, and he saw that.

And so I guess it's kind of brought me back to the question at hand to keep pondering this some more.

Is it our personality that makes us seem like a positive person to others?

Or is it our personality paired with our present situation?

I don't know.

What do you think?

Do you look at somebody who you don't see that anything's wrong with them?

You don't see or know that they've had a bad day, that they have a hard life, and you just see the fact that they're dancing and laughing and having fun?

Do you immediately think to yourself, oh wow, what a positive person?

Probably not.

You probably instead think to yourself, wow, that person's just having a whole lot of fun.

And they've probably had a little bit more to drink tonight than me.

Now, let's change it.

What if the person on that dance floor is in a wheelchair and yet they're smiling, they're laughing, they are having the time of their life.

Are you more apt to look at that person and think, wow, what a positive person?

They're making an impact.

They are leaving a legacy, they are inspiring me to want to live my life to the fullest each and every day, to be sure that I'm taking advantage of this very moment because I never know what tomorrow will hold.

Now, here's the thing is I don't know.

I'm asking you.

As I said at the beginning of this episode, today's episode is a conversation starter.

Something to get you thinking, something to get you maybe even putting action in your own life.

Because I believe that every single one of us should strive to be a little bit more positive each and every day.

It doesn't matter, though, if we're out in public or if we're at home by ourselves.

Being positive is something we should strive to do all the time, not just when people are watching.

And here's the other thing, though, is that it doesn't matter if you have something visibly quote unquote wrong with you, something that should make you not be a happy person.

That really doesn't make any matter.

It's just kind of what I've been led to to ponder about.

The big meaning, the big purpose, I think, in this whole conversation starter is to get us focusing on living a more positive life.

Because the truth of the matter is, is that the world is watching.

People are paying attention.

And what if, just what if, we can make an impact by simply going to a cousin's birthday party, by simply smiling, laughing, having a good time.

What if somebody is watching?

And what if somebody says to themselves, wow, if they can do it, maybe I can too?

And that's what this is all about.

I would love to hear from you.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

And I think the best way to do it is you need to get on the podcast email list.

I send out a new email every day that a podcast episode is released.

So that means on Tuesday and Friday morning, you're gonna get a personal love letter from your podcast host in your inbox, which is something that I love doing.

I write these emails in real time.

And it's just what I love to wake up on my Tuesday and Friday doing with a fresh cup of coffee in hand, writing a little note to you about that day's podcast, and inviting you to join in on the conversation by hitting reply.

So the easiest way for you to sign up is to head on over to the website, which is just gritgraceinspiration.com.

Again, that is literally just gritgraceinspiration.com, and you'll find a sign-up form right there on the homepage.

To make that as easy as possible on you, of course, head on down to the episode's show notes for this episode, and I will leave a link for you to get signed up today.

So get on the email list and let's start this conversation.

Or I guess today, let's continue this conversation.

And hey, that's the end of today's episode.

I hope today's episode blesses you, inspires you, and maybe gets you thinking about things in a little bit deeper way.

Have an amazing day.

This is Kevin Lowe with Grit Grace and Inspiration.

Hey, real quick before you go, I have one last thought to leave you with.

I of course hope that you've enjoyed today's episode, but more importantly, I want to remind you that I never want you to listen to an episode of this podcast to hear something that I have to say or that my guest has to share, and think, wow, I wish I could be like them.

I wish I could overcome my own challenges and do the great things that they are doing, but I just can't.

Well, friend, that's where you're wrong.

You are capable, you are able, and you darn sure are deserving of having all that you can imagine in this life.

There's nothing special about me or any guests I have on this podcast.

We are all just normal people trying to make it in this life.

And so I encourage you to take a look at yourself in the mirror and remind yourself that you know what?

I can do it too.

Now, of course, if you would like help along that way, reach out to me.

Whether that's as a listener of this podcast, a friend, or if you'd like to work with me as a coach.

My contact information is inside of every episode's show notes, just like this one.

So go down, check out my contact information, and reach out to me today.

With that said, I encourage you to take on the day every day with grit, grace, and inspiration.