When Chamber Board President Robyn Snyder chose “Be Positive, Do Positive” as the Chamber theme for 2020, she had no idea what was in store for our community, our state, or our nation. She simply wanted to share the message that being positive can have a huge impact on everyone, personally and professionally.

Many could argue that the challenges imposed this year by a pandemic, such as forced closures, stay-at-home orders, layoffs, loss of revenue, health concerns for self and loved ones, and so many others simply make it impossible to be positive. Regardless of all those very good reasons, each one of us still has the ability to be positive. We simply need to find things we are thankful for and keep being thankful for them. Allowing negativity to overtake us will only drag us further down the rabbit hole.

Usually when we are at the bottom, nothing is more annoying that someone saying, “Just be positive! Smile! Chin up!” Sometimes we just want to give in to negativity. We’ve all been there. But that’s not what’s best for us, or our family, or our employer/employees, or our community for that matter. Numerous studies show there is a direct correlation between good health and a positive attitude. The good news is that even faking a positive attitude helps!

A University of Kansas study found that smiling­ – even fake smiling – reduces heart rate and blood pressure during times of stress. Reframing things is another great way to keep perspective. Instead of allowing traffic to stress you out, appreciate the fact that you can afford a car and get to spend a few extra minutes listening to music or talking to the person riding with you. Build resiliency by focusing on the things you can control. Learn to adapt to stressful situations by maintaining good relationships with family and friends, accepting that change is part of life, and taking action to change your circumstances when you can.

Like so many things in life, it comes down to how much you actually want to change things for the better. It’s easy to compare this idea with weight loss. A person is born with a predisposition for a certain body style, like they are born with a certain personality. Keeping off excess weight is simply easier for some people than it is for others, just like having a positive outlook comes more naturally for some than it does for others.
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In both cases, you have the power to do something about it. So give it a try. Nothing drains a person more than a negative outlook. Start looking at things in a different way, get your smile on (even if you have to fake it for awhile) and find ways to adapt to the things life tosses your way.

Chelsea Lee is one of the Radio Talents at KIK-FM (100.7) & COOL-FM (94.3). She is on air weekdays from 10 am - 2 pm. These stations are owned by Hubbard Broadcasting which owns 16 radio stations in Minnesota between the cities of Alexandria, Bemidji, Brainerd and Wadena. They also have additional stations all over the nation. A few of the other Radio Talents one will hear on these stations are Kris & Nik in the Morning who are on weekdays from 6:30 - 10 am, as well as Amy Fox who is on weekdays from 2 - 7 pm.

It’s nothing new that in the final weeks leading up to a major election tempers flare, patience dwindles and examples of “nice” are difficult to come by, even in the state of Minnesota where we used to be known for being nice. “Used to be” are the key words in that sentence, as it is becoming rare to hear others refer to us as “Minnesota Nice” anymore.

We, like so many others across our nation, are becoming more disrespectful to one another as time passes. Examples of this can be found everywhere – at home, in the workplace, in public places, in person, on the phone, through social media, between family members, coworkers, friends, enemies, neighbors….When did we become such a disrespectful and entitled society? There has always been crime, people who made poor choices, and people who were unkind or disrespectful. But we have now moved into a time when many people think they have the “right” to vandalize property in order to make a statement, that they are “entitled” to degrade other people verbally or through social media, that they don’t “owe” anyone anything, including respect.

The phrase, “I have the right to (fill in the blank)” is heard frequently in a variety of contexts. People have always had differences, disagreements, biases, or dislike for others. That will never go away. In many ways, today’s society is more accepting than ever before of differences in religion, race, sexual preferences. Yet, overall, we are more vocal, judgmental, condemning, and disrespectful than ever before.

Classes on respect and kindness should be made mandatory at schools, in workplaces, in all levels of government service. Codes of Conduct should be created and followed and enforced and celebrated. This should be done for people of all ages, all backgrounds, all levels of employment, all walks of life. We can’t fall back on such archaic statements as, “young people are so disrespectful,” or “adults deserve respect… the boss deserves respect… teachers, parents, law enforcement officers, government officials…” EVERYONE deserves respect and everyone deserves kindness – even when they don’t. What I mean is that sometimes people have wronged you so terribly you don’t feel you can be kind or treat them with respect. In those cases, the respectful thing to do is to walk away, close the door, end the relationship – but don’t become vulgar, hateful or revengeful in the process. It will do no good.

In milder cases, just set some boundaries. If you and a friend always ending up arguing when you talk politics, agree to not talk politics with each other. If a family member’s Facebook page always gets you riled, unfollow or unfriend them. If your neighbor’s political sign bothers you, focus on the other side of the street every time you drive by or go a different direction.

But please, don’t tell your friend they are an idiot because of their political views, don’t criticize your family member in the comment section on their posts on their Facebook page, and don’t sneak out in the middle of the night and set your neighbor’s sign on fire. In my role as director of the local Chamber of Commerce, there are a lot of things I want Alexandria to be known for – memorable vacations, quality of life, a healthy economy, business opportunity, safety, low crime rates, quality educational opportunities, state-of-the-art healthcare…

​But what I would value most is for Alexandria to be known as a place where the people are simply respectful and kind.