In a World of Negativity: Set the Tone. Pott. Co.-Style!

Don’t know about you, but I’m tired of drivel on my newsfeed and crankiness in public, but here’s the thing: it starts with us.  We set the tone.

Things are hard right now…for absolutely everyone…but we set the tone.

No one will be swayed by your rant on social media.  But they will be by a picture of you leading by example.  So set the tone.

Is your garden vast this year?  Awesome!  Post a pic and then sneak extra zucchinis or 10 into your co-worker’s car!  Maybe they will want them, maybe they will share with someone else, or maybe they will just find it hysterical and do it to somebody else creating laughter and a zucchini ring!  Or maybe they’ll donate them to the food pantry.  Set the tone.

Are you trying to socially distance and you feel like nobody else is?  Hit that Nishnabotna Water Trail.  Take selfies of you guys tubing with #FloatTheNish or #GottaTryIt!  Take a pic under the giant cornstalk at Shelby.  Encourage local tourism and help our towns. Encourage staycations.  See what’s here!  Set the tone.

Worried about the injustice of racism?  Know somebody that’s a different ethnicity than you nearby?  Drop off cookies.  Leave a plant.  Kindness starts with you.  Set the tone.

Concerned about a friend’s local business?  Go grab lunch there or shop in their store.  Take a pic showing what you got and post it to social media.  Tell about the cleanliness or the procedures in place or the fab food or cute towels.  Set the tone.

Wishing it was safe for kids and staff to go to school?  Grab that extra jug of hand sanitizer to send with the neighbor kid.  Buy that gift card to a local restaurant so that teacher can grab a to-go supper and get to bed earlier to stay healthy.  Sew those masks for people who need them.  Set the tone.

Throw compliments out on social media or in stores to strangers.  Set the tone.

Take care of yourself with walks and fresh sweet corn and books on the deck in the sun.  Self-care makes you happier which makes everyone around you happier.  Set the tone.

Volunteer.  The best way to overcome negativity is by doing for others.  Want to know where and how and even from your own living room?  ShareOmaha (and SharePottawattamie) can tell you how.  Set the tone.

Call home.  To friends you miss, family you haven’t seen, or to role models that taught you everything. Set the tone.

Give that hug to the people who live in your house or hold that hand.  Human contact and sleep solves most issues in life.  Set the tone.

When things are amiss, we can join the fear and negativity or despair, or we can let it light a fire under us.  This little light of mine – well, I’m gonna let it shine.  And if you’re reading it, well, I put good out there, and you can, too. 
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Set the tone.

Photo thanks to Canva.