Turn A Negative Into A Positive

Summary

Studies have shown that one way to live longer is to be more positive. It makes sense, right? Positive people seem less stressed, less worked up, less resentful and more full of life. In this blog I am sharing a strategy to find positives in the negatives.

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There’s something magical about taking the train. I’m writing this whilst flying along at 244 km/h from Florence to Milan, passing drivers stuck in their cars on the autostrada. I’m on the train because I couldn’t support the insanity that has taken over the airlines at our local airport, Florence. It was either €200 for a flight from Florence or €40 from Milan. Anyway, the lesson I want to share with you is about turning negatives into positives.

One man’s wilderness is another’s home

Recently, I’ve been watching a YouTube channel called Yes Theory. It’s two Swedish guys who look about the same age as me. They travel to distant places in search of adventures forgotten by the rest of the world. The episode I watched when I got onto this train was on a chain of islands called the Northern Marianas, an often forgotten US Territory in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

They explored the main island before chartering a fishing boat to take a 12 hour journey to the far reaches of this island chain. With them was the captain and his crew, along with a Russian ex-special forces survivalist who weirdly lives on this chain of islands.

Due to bad weather, they burned through more fuel than expected and the captain, Mario, informed them that they’d have to spend, “maybe at least 24 hours” on this deserted island - because running out of fuel would mean being adrift in the Pacific, hundreds of miles from safety.

So, this eclectic mix of men jumped onto the nearest island - an uninhabited bird sanctuary - and spent the night there, fighting off crabs as big as dinner plates. It’s safe to say the Swedes were shitting themselves. By morning, Mario received a message from the mayor on the main island, “the fuel won’t be there today.”

“No worries,” said Mario. “My old home is on an abandoned island just 35 kilometres away.” So as the sun rose they used the last of their fuel reserves to make it to that island that - despite being abandoned - had a bit of infrastructure. They pulled up at this old infrastructure which turned out to be Mario’s old house. It was a simple shelter with tin sheets catching rain water. booby traps for wild pigs, and spears to fish in the shark infested waters.

Mario came alive on this island. “What’s our chance of catching a wild pig?” Asked the Swede, who hadn’t eaten for 18h. “100%” replied a jubilant looking Mario. Captain Mario was home and his positive energy rubbed off on the Swedes, one of whom had a critical insight, “yesterday, we thought we were stranded in the Pacific. Today, we’re actually just at someone’s home. One person’s stranding is another’s home.”

The Strategy: Flip The Story

This flipped the script for them. You could see these young Swedes relax into the whole experience, abandoning their usual desire for control and instead leaning into how Mario lived. This is the lesson I want to leave with you today. Stuff in our lives always sucks and it always will. Sure, spend a night worrying, complaining and stressing about what’s getting you down, but when you wake up, think how you can use that discomfort. Because that discomfort is exactly where your meaningful life is living. Nobody ever found meaning in comfort, they found it by exploring the edges of their universe. And there is no better springboard to the edge of your universe than the trying times you might be going through right now.

How can getting fired from your job be a springboard into a new career of your dreams? How can a broken leg be an opportunity to start that online course you’ve always wanted to do? How can an expensive flight be an opportunity to travel somewhere else?

Anyway, it’s 11:16, my train has almost arrived in Milan. I’m off to see a friend for lunch then my parents for dinner - negative to positive.