OPINION | Brent Lindeque: Good things are all around us, oh yes they are! | News24

Proteas during the 1st One Day International match between South Africa and West Indies at Imperial Wanderers Stadium on January 28, 2022 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Lee Warren/Gallo Images)

Wow, 2022 has already been another one for the books, hasn’t it? From the war in Ukraine, our extended (yet again) State of National Disaster to ministers spending millions of taxpayer’s money on new cars and ‘that slap’, the first three months of the year have been a lot to deal with. But here’s the thing, life exists in balance with both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ existing side by side. Good news is all around us; you just need to know where to find it, writes Brent Lindeque.

Happiness is akin to hygiene. You have to shower every single day to keep clean, and it is exactly the same for your state of being. You need to learn how to do the same with your mind. You need to shower your subconscious with all the stuff that motivates and inspires you. That’s the only way to create joy for yourself. Happiness is an inside job.

And on that note, here is a quick round-up of good news that proves yet again how incredible South Africans are at being extraordinary! 

GoodNews24: Read all the feel good stories  

I mean just look at our incredible women’s cricket team, the Momentum Proteas who had been representing South Africa at the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 and did an incredible job. The team took the win in New Zealand in an exciting three-wicket, final-ball showdown and ended with 278 runs. This nail-biting match ended up setting a South African women’s cricket record for the highest chased down score.

The team unfortunately lost to England in the semi-final. 

Eighteen million meals since lockdown

In another feel-good story, this past weekend, a team of 31 Organ Donor Warriors conquered South Africa’s largest obstacle race, the Warrior Race, to champion Organ Donation! The group known as “Ride for Hope” took on the Warrior on Saturday, 26 March. The heroes helped create much-needed awareness about organ and tissue donation, and 34 new people signed up as organ and tissue donors.

Remember the guy who started Vuyo’s restaurant because of an advert? Well, he’s done a lot more since then… including feeding over 18 million meals since the lockdown started.

Miles Kubheka has always had the desire to make a meaningful mark on the world, and in 2012 he became the first person in the entire world to create a business based on a TV advert.

The advert was about a character named “Vuyo” who starts off selling wors rolls from a food cart and then makes it “beeeg”. Miles innovatively trademarked the Vuyo’s brand and actually opened the first Vuyo’s restaurant, but he has done so much more to help South Africans since then.

READ | OPINION: Brent Lindeque –  2021 brought us to the brink but it wasn’t without extraordinary moments

Then, in East London recently, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) duty crew and Dynamic ambulance services responded to Lietjies Bay following reports that a woman had been washed off the rocks by a wave. It turns out that two local women and two local men had been swept out to sea in rip currents.

A local surfer, Zander Hampson, 30, who was surfing nearby, heard their shouts for help and reached them behind the breakers finding the one woman unresponsive and floating face down in the water. Zander, a safety officer and a former lifeguard and ambulance medic, used his lifesaving training to place his surfboard under the unresponsive female and roll her over so that she was now lying on his upright surfboard. She was transported to the hospital in a stable condition by Dynamic ambulance – it’s a great story that could have had a very different ending had it not been for the kindness of a surfer and the great work of the NSRI. 

Live louder, be kinder 

And finally, some great news on the entertainment front! It has been confirmed that Disney+, the streaming service from The Walt Disney Company, will launch in South Africa in May. 

With exclusive original content and thousands of episodes and movies from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and general entertainment from Star, Disney+ is the streaming home for some of the world’s most beloved stories.

For these and a lot more good news stories visit www.goodthingsguy.com 

And remember my friends to get excited about your goals, surround yourself with good people, try new things, love louder and be kinder. 

Wishing you only Good Things.

–  Brent Lindeque is the Good Things Guy.

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