Finding the sweet spot

This year has catapulted us out of our comfort zones, leaving many feeling anxious and emotionally depleted. Yet there are also those who have actively sought and shared positivity. As we approach Rosh Hashanah, their stories of finding new projects and giving back inspire us to find our sweet spots.

Ariel Poyurs has always been innately optimistic. Yet even he was hard-pressed to find the silver lining when his plans for 2020 imploded. Headhunted for a job in Australia, he was all set to start his new adventure when his visas were delayed. Then COVID-19 struck, and the job was no more. “My whole life trajectory had just been thrown out before me,” he says. “I felt empty and lost.” Yet he knew brighter days were ahead.

An educator at heart who’s taught primary school kids and barmitzvah boys, Poyurs also holds a psychology degree. During lockdown, he wanted a chance to connect with the youth and make a positive impact. Having always enjoyed writing, Poyurs decided to start Theoptimismblog. Here he shares his life experiences and learnings, aiming to share hope and create a community of care. “It’s so important to be optimistic in times like these – it’s really the only option,” he says.

In starting his blog, Poyurs was inspired by the example of actor John Krasinski who during lockdown started a web series called Some Good News (SGN). He also looked to the teachings of renowned motivational speaker Simon Sinek. “Sinek did a video on the idea of optimism. He said it’s not just about being happy-clappy, it’s acknowledging things are bad, but still believing in a better future. That resonated with me so deeply because even though I was feeling down, all my thoughts just naturally had this optimistic side.”

While being vulnerable on a public forum slightly terrified him, Poyurs challenged himself and took the plunge in April. “Writing about optimism every week really speaks to me and is something I naturally felt I wanted to do. It’s helped me engage with life more effectively and made me more conscious of finding ways to shed light on dark situations.”

Through his blog, he’s attracted a loyal following, with his widest viewed post so far reaching over 1 500 people globally. He’s also connected with many of his very different readers including a fascinating American rabbi and a woman from Saudi Arabia. “I love that I’m breaking barriers and getting to know people in different cultures and spaces,” he says. Poyurs has recently returned to working for the Division of Informal Jewish Education (DIJE) and is exploring other new opportunities, proving that optimism reaps rewards.

Mother-and-daughter team Robyn and Natalia Blumenthal used the early stages of lockdown to collaborate on a special lockdown recipe book called Unmasked. Combining recipes and lockdown stories from a global pool of contributors, the book also boasts beautiful food and lockdown photography.

Passionate about food and inspired by her beloved late grandmother’s culinary prowess, social media strategist and content creator Natalia, 25, had always dreamed of compiling a recipe book in her honour. “We were sitting at home one day, discussing how because of lockdown, everybody was now in the kitchen cooking and baking,” recalls Robyn, a speech therapist working in remedial education. “Natalia said somebody should document it.” The two decided to take the project on themselves.

“I thought that together with their new recipes or old favourites, everybody would have a different story about their lockdown experience and coping strategies,” says Natalia. She and her mother gathered close to 100 recipes and stories through a network of friends, and friends of friends from Johannesburg to Cape Town, Israel, Australia and beyond.

The Blumenthals are also using their book project to feed others, and all proceeds will be donated to small feeding schemes, helping those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Addressing the professional struggles so many faced, the two used the services of smaller, newer players in creative industries in exchange for them getting free publicity. Friends dropped meals at the Blumenthals’ gate, and a photographer took artfully arranged food photos in their driveway.

The project helped keep Robyn and Natalia inspired and motivated during hard lockdown. “We had to stay in touch with people, and we became very aware of community,” says Robyn.

“It gave us a positive goal on which to focus,” adds Natalia. “We knew that lockdown would eventually end, and we would have used this time to create something special. It was a light at the end of the tunnel for us because despite the terrible things that have happened with the pandemic, we’ve been able to capture the good in this book, which we call our treasure chest. There’s a certain magic to being able to pause and rethink, and we hope people remember that when they stop to use this book.”

For lawyer and entrepreneur Brenda Stern, gardening has always been the activity she turns to when facing struggles. “I’ve suffered from depression and I’m a breast cancer survivor, and gardening has often been my saviour. It’s very therapeutic.” Having moved into a new house during lockdown, Stern found an emotional outlet in tending to her new, but neglected, garden. Together with her partner in gardening, her beloved dog Archie, Stern also decided to start a pavement vegetable garden, encouraging passer’s by to take what they needed.

Stern was then inspired to establish a gardening gemach to create free planting projects, vegetable gardens, and gardens for people who can benefit from the power of plants and share the catharsis that comes with gardening. She took to the Joburg Jewish Mommies Facebook group, and invited people to donate their unused plants, pots, and time to help others in the community for whom plants may be a luxury. She also offered to help people contribute to the wider community, by planting pavement vegetable gardens. “The huge response was overwhelmingly humbling.”

“Caring for even one plant gives people a sense of purpose and that’s what this project is about. It’s about evoking that sense of creation in each one of us that comes with planting and looking after another living thing. Lockdown has also taught me that we have to learn to share our resources and our privilege … The greatest legacy you can leave is to plant a tree under whose shade you do not expect to sit.”