"The Power of Positivity":

The Power of Positivity: Harnessing Optimism to Transform Your Mindset, Relationships, and Life

Ella Morgan had every reason to be bitter.

At 35, she found herself divorced, unemployed, and living back in her childhood bedroom with posters of 90s boy bands still clinging to the walls. Her friends had moved on—marriages, careers, vacations in Europe—while she nursed a mug of instant coffee every morning, scrolling through job listings and rejection emails.

One rainy Thursday morning, Ella sat at the kitchen table, listening to her mother hum while making eggs.

“You know,” her mom said, flipping the eggs with practiced grace, “your life’s not over, honey.”

Ella gave a weak smile. “Feels like it is.”

Her mom slid a plate in front of her and sat across the table. “I know it’s hard. But maybe it’s time to try looking at things differently.”

“Differently how? Everything’s a mess.”

“That’s one way to see it. Or you could see it as a clean slate.”

Ella didn’t reply. She didn’t have the energy to argue with someone so optimistic. But something about the words stuck.

That night, she sat on the edge of her bed and opened an old notebook. On the first page, she wrote in bold letters: “Day 1: Find something good today.”

The next morning, she woke up and didn’t check her phone. Instead, she went for a walk. It was early. The sky was pink with sunrise, and the air smelled of wet grass. A small dog bounded past her and its owner called out, “Good morning!”

She smiled. “Morning.”

That was it. That was her good thing.

She wrote it down: Day 1: The sunrise. A dog. A stranger smiled.

Day 2: Coffee actually tasted decent. Laughed at a stupid meme.

Day 3: Sent out three job applications without crying. Progress.

It became a routine. Every day, she looked for something positive, no matter how small. Over time, her list grew. She started to notice how the leaves changed color, how her mom always made tea just before sunset, how laughter echoed through the house when her niece visited.

And something inside her shifted.

It didn’t happen all at once. There were still days she cried. Still rejections. Still moments where she doubted everything. But she had changed the way she talked to herself. Instead of “I’m a failure,” she’d say, “I’m still trying. That matters.” Instead of “Nothing’s working,” she’d say, “Something good might be around the corner.”

One afternoon, while helping a neighbor carry groceries, Ella mentioned she was looking for work. The woman lit up.

“My sister runs a small marketing firm. She’s always looking for writers. Want me to give her your name?”

Ella’s heart skipped. “Yes, please!”

A week later, she had a freelance gig writing blog posts. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was a start.

As she built up clients, she moved into a small apartment near the park. She painted the walls yellow. Bought plants. Started cooking again. She even joined a book club.

People noticed the change in her. “You seem lighter,” her friend Jess said one night over dinner.

“I started writing down one good thing a day,” Ella replied. “It sounds silly, but it rewired my brain. Made me focus on what’s there, not just what’s missing.”

Jess blinked. “I might try that.”

Years later, Ella would look back at that dark period and realize it was the beginning of something. Not the end.

She wrote a book called The Power of Positivity, sharing her story and the science behind optimistic thinking. She spoke at schools and conferences, not as someone who had everything figured out, but as someone who had learned how to shift her perspective—and keep shifting it, every single day.

Positivity, she explained, wasn’t about pretending everything was okay. It wasn’t about toxic cheerfulness or ignoring pain. It was about choosing to see the light, even when everything felt dark.

It was about noticing the small, good things.

It was about asking, every day, “What went right today?”

And sometimes, that answer changed everything.