Sencity South Africa: Thinking about possibilities versus positive thinking

Now that the first round of HIV awareness workshops is over, we go full speed ahead towards the event.

Full speed ahead, that means as far as the weather will allow us. They are expecting 40° Celsius, and hardly any wind. Therefore, we all woke up at 6 am - which is a weird idea for a northern European production team, knowing that we will go on till 8 am the next day. But knowing that you will take a swim in the Antarctic cold ocean in the afternoon while you might have 2000 visitors at 9 pm, gives an extra thrill as well.

We are expecting 2,000 visitors. As this is our first time here, we have no idea what to expect at all. Posters are hanging everywhere in town, it is constantly on the radio and hundreds of people have been invited over the last few weeks. We got an awesome, well-known South African band, called Freshly Ground (go check them out!) and a superb Dutch DJ, Chuckie. Nevertheless, people will buy tickets on the last day and mostly on the evening of the event itself. The project team is quite confident in having a ball anyway.

Having confidence that everything will be all right, that means positive thinking. And that is basically the only concern I have. I see a lot of positive thinking here in this country, and that gives a very pleasant vibe on the streets and in the places where people meet each other. People are friendly and warm. And of course positive thinking is a great medicine. But there is a slight danger in it as people put all their hope in the future. A future, that unfortunately, might never become reality.

Yes, it is nice to dream about great things, but I would like to make a point here towards thinking in possibilities versus positive thinking. I noticed here that people are hardly related to reality, not even accepting the reality that is in front of them. It might be a western disease as well, but how about accepting things as they are now, being honest about it, maybe even being vulnerable. That way we can learn from the past, from the errors we made instead of repeating them. And then we can have a look at what is possible. I am enough of a positive thinker to know everything IS possible - I have seen enough examples of it. We only need to grab the opportunities that come our way, trust ourselves and develop ourselves.

Let’s be careful with hoping. Hoping might paralyze us, while it should create a context in which to perform, to get into action.

Having said that, it’s time to start and to produce an awesome event!