Positivi-Tea with Doc B

This weekly column is inspired by students and news trends that remind us to “spill the tea” on what’s good. Shout out to Solutions Journalism, Fix the News, Good News Movement, and My Unsung Hero - check them out. Shout out to Millie Rodbell for the name Positivi-tea!

The goal is to practice seeing and spreading the good - looking for positive stories to balance out all the negative ones or finding a positive kernel in what seems like a bad or negative event. Building a practice of finding positivity is not about being naive or avoiding tough times - it’s about reminding ourselves that life can be hard, uncertain, and even unfair sometimes and resilience is fueled by hope and confidence built through action. 

What transpired was a series of design sessions with the student working over his breaks to diligently  advance his vision. A couple of times, he had to start all over again when the product wasn’t what he wanted. Eventually, he finished his project and made a plan for the next one.

This experience was a moment of Positivi-tea just by itself. A student had an idea, worked hard to make it work, and was proud of the result. It was not a “one and done” effort and it required holding himself to a high standard. It was not a class assignment, it wasn’t for a grade, it was something instead he was motivated to do for himself.  This kind of maker mindset is exactly what we’re trying to create with the Action Studio: self directed learning and activation. 

But my favorite bit of positivi-tea to highlight came from a personal exchange I witnessed. The day he completed his project, one of the student’s peers came into the Action Studio to see what his friend was doing. I felt myself tense up a little bit as I worried if the friend would be supportive or if he’d tease him. 

Fortunately, the friend chose to lift him up instead of knock him down. This is also something we hope to see in a space built for collaborative learning and inspiration, so it was affirming to watch. But what impressed me the most was the moment right before the friend passed his judgment. 

When the designing student first looked to his friend and said “what do you think?”, I could see in his face an eager anticipation clouded with a little anxiety, perhaps thinking ‘what if he doesn’t like it? What if it’s not as cool as I think it is?” But it was just a blip, just a spot of uncertainty. I noted the moment his shoulders relaxed, when he decided that although his friend’s opinion mattered, no matter what it was, only he was in charge of how he felt about his work. 

In a world where ‘likes’ and ‘follows’ all too often dictate our sense of self worth, I loved seeing someone make the conscious decision to determine their own value.

Check out past Positivi-Tea articles: