PVO - The Beginning

This one is just me, sitting down and telling you the real story behind Positive Vibes Only. Not the polished version, but the messy, honest beginning. Because so many of you have asked me why I started this Vlog, and I realized I have never actually put it out there. So here it is.

The frustration that started it all

Back in 2015, I was spending a lot of time on Facebook, just like everyone else. I would update my status, be vocal about my opinions, and watch the fights unfold in the comments. And honestly, I started feeling borderline pathetic about it. I saw people saying outrageous things to each other, being completely unreasonable. I realized that more than changing all the big problems everyone was shouting about, we needed to change ourselves first. We were constantly blaming the government, blaming the West, blaming this person or that person, and it was not helping anybody. I thought, we need to be better citizens before we point fingers at everyone else.

A wishful conversation

One day I was talking to my husband about all of this. I was saying how we need to be more grateful, more tolerant, more patient, and less stereotypical. All the big problems in this world start from the baseline, from how we think. The way minorities are treated in our country, for example, it is a very big issue, but it comes from a mindset. I just blurted out, “I wish I could talk about this on a platform and make people understand.” He simply said, “So why don’t you do it?” I immediately said I could not. I was just not one of those people. I slept on it, and the next morning I thought, what was I thinking last night? I completely left it.

The push I needed

But my husband did not leave it. Every few weeks he would ask me, “So are you doing it?” That constant reminder kept pushing me. It kept the thought alive until one day I just picked up my selfie camera and started addressing the ten thousand people following me on Instagram. I thought, if I can just help out one person out there, my objective will be achieved. I started talking about really small things on my Snapchat. Self-reflection. Our responsibilities as citizens. Tolerance, patience, being less judgmental. Anger management. Anxiety. Anything I came across, I would just throw it out there. It was about our responsibilities as humans first.

Where the name came from

During my third year of medical school, right before my third professional exam, I was a big ball of anxiety. I was so stressed that I developed health anxiety and a cancer phobia. There were so many times I thought I was going to die. I went to the doctors maybe fifty times, and all of them just said I was anxious. What actually ended up changing things for me was realizing that more than half of our problems are just in our heads. I had to change the way I thought. I had to think positively. The phrase “Positive Vibes Only” came from my brother and one of his friends. They kept using it, and I took it very seriously. I consciously worked on being a more positive person. It was a struggle, and there is still so much left to work on, but that is what led to the name and everything I do now.

What positive vibes only really means

It is ridiculous to think that Positive Vibes Only means you have to be cheery all the time. That is not possible. We are all human. Life will put us in situations where we feel angry, jealous, sad, desperate, and absolutely hopelessly miserable. The meaning here is simply a positive approach towards life, towards people, towards everything that comes our way. It means accepting that yes, I feel sad, I do feel angry, I did feel jealous. But then channeling all that negative energy towards a positive one. Figuring out how to deal with our emotions, how to get ourselves out of that place, and how to change the way we think about the situation. Accept all your emotions. They are normal and natural. Just learn how to deal with them in a more positive manner.

Why this matters

I am sharing this because I want you to know that this whole thing started from a very real, very imperfect place. It was not a grand plan. It was a wish, a nudge from someone who believed in me, and a decision to just start talking about the small things that matter. If you have ever felt stuck in your own head, or overwhelmed by the negativity around you, I hope this reminds you that the change really does begin with how we think.