Happy Birthday to Our Bouncing Baby Website, Just the Positive!

As we begin year 2 of justthepositive.com, the Estipona Group asks you for one thing: to continue seeking out and shining a spotlight on all that is positive in our spectacular community of Northern Nevada.

Last February, we at the Estipona Group made a big request: We asked you to embark with us on a journey to embrace the positive in ways our community hasn’t done before.

As part of this ask, we invited you to support a website we created called (appropriately, we think): justthepositive.com. The website was designed to tell the spectacular stories of local people doing amazing things in our community.

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And here’s how you responded in your reviews of our site:

“How wonderful to read about all the good this community has to offer.”

~ Local philanthropist and real estate agent Barbie Marcoe

“Such a refreshing change for social media.”

~ Local business owner Brooke Lampert

“Recognizing the positive and good things that happen every day can lift your spirit and validate the people around you. These acts of generosity are contagious and result in a healthy outlook and supportive environment. People flourish in a supportive community.”

~ Retired educator Shannon Ward

Then to Now: Just the Positive, By the Numbers

Launching Just the Positive has been a massive effort. Over the course of the last year, we have published 81 stories, amassed a writing cadre of 40+ contributors (who all have stepped up to tell wonderful stories about the amazing things happening in our community) and inspired a total of 235,447 smiles. Give or take.

Infographic: JTP’s first year, by the numbers

And now begins our second year. As part of our continuing campaign, we’re still telling the story about the power of positivity; in fact, our team has embarked upon a happiness roadshow of sorts, encouraging people to learn about positivity (and, of course, Justthepositive.com) at a variety of community events.

For example, our own Edward Estipona and Mikalee Byerman will be speaking at Thursday’s South Reno Rotary luncheon at the Atlantis, and Mikalee is keynoting an NCET Biz Café next month called “The Secret Science of Happiness at Work.”

The bottom line to all of this talking and story-sharing and spotlight-shining is this: Positivity matters.

After we launched Just the Positive, our friend and loyal JTP follower, Margaret Stewart from the Community Foundation of Western Nevada, sent us a New York Times opinion piece called “A Nation of Weavers.” In it, columnist David Brooks talked about the epidemic of social isolation that we’re all facing — what he calls “a lack of healthy connection to each other, an inability to see the full dignity of each other, and the resulting culture of fear, distrust, tribalism, shaming and strife.”

He says this problem of isolation is being solved primarily by people at the local level, “…who are building community and weaving the social fabric.”

And in sending us this article, our friend Margaret said this:

“I don't know when I have been so touched by a newspaper article. This is YOU. You are a group of Weavers.”

But what we truly believe is this: WE are a group of Weavers. You, the readers and contributors, are providing the vital connection we need to the stories that need to be told.

And by publishing stories about the positive things people are doing in our community on a daily basis, we are connecting, celebrating and seeing the good in what can largely be characterized as an otherwise dark time.

How to Join the Just the Positive Movement

So here we are, at the beginning of year 2, with another big ask: pretty please continue to join us on this remarkably positive journey.

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and subscribe to the monthly High 5.

• Become a contributor today, and tell your story about the power of positivity.
• Spotlight the Good to nominate someone or something that is making a positive contribution locally.
• Let us know where we should speak — we’re always looking for groups interested in a message about the importance of positivity.  

And finally, from the bottom of our positivity-loving hearts: Thank you for being a Weaver with us.

Here’s to 235,447 more smiles in year 2. Give or take.

Mikalee Byerman is VP of Strategy for the Estipona Group, and along with the rest of the Estipona Group team, is a founder of justthepositive.com. She secretly smiles every time she finds glitter in her dryer’s lint trap, because glitter = happiness. (For her 6-year-old daughter, at least.) Email her if you’d like to challenge her about this, but by the way, she doesn’t think that’s very positive of you.