Welcome back to Positive DONUT, the newsletter where my only goal is to have you feeling like this by the end: 

Sit back, relax, and enjoy – you deserve it! 

Have an amazing week.

–Kailyn 🥰

⏰🚀 Ready, Set, Go: Today's newsletter takes ~3.70 minutes to read (985 words).

I inhale peace. I exhale doubt.

As Sassy Wyatt stood atop the Empire State Building during her most recent trip to New York City, she shared that she felt the "essence" of New York more than ever before. 

Sassy felt the wind in her hair, heard the birds chirping as they flew by, and descibed the smell of the air as "gritty – where it’s part clean air and part dusty." 

It didn't bother her that she couldn't see the view. 

• Sassy lost her sight ten years ago due to juvenile arthrits, which attacked her organs and then her eyes. The travel-lover spent two years after her vision started to disappear depressed and grieving for her loss of sight. Finally, she decided she wouldn't let it stop her. 
• "The more I built my own confidence [and got] back on my feet," Sassy shared of that difficult time period after her vision loss, "the more I was like, ‘I would like to see the world. I don’t want my blindness to stop me seeing the world.’"

Now, Sassy and her husband and/or service dog Ida travel the globe, bringing awareness to what traveling is like with a disability, in addition to advocating for more accessible options for others with the travel bug. 

Sassy also runs a blog called Blind Girl Adventures, which chronicles her travels and experiences as a blind woman traveling internationally. 

Her following grew very quickly. She now attends travel conferences and industry meet-ups often, advocating for the disability community at every point she can. 

• “People were interested in my lived experience," said Sassy. "How I travel, how I do things and how other destinations can make their marketing or their digital inclusion or their hotels, their clients – the whole aspect of travel – how they could make it better for disabled people. And then that light bulb flicked on. I realized I could scale this into making it into a career.”

🌊 Sassy remembers her first trip after losing her eyesight well. The vacation brought her to Malta for her friend's wedding: 

• She was “standing on the beach with my toes curled into the sand, feeling the heat press upon me, and listening to the waves lap against the seashore," she recalls. “just breathing in that fresh sea air, and being surrounded by nature, its beauty, and feeling significant and yet completely insignificant. I was like the grain of sand that’s upon the beach. I didn’t have to be able to see the blue waters and the golden sand to know how beautiful and extraordinary it was and experience being there." 

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Tamatha Bibb is the principal of Pollard Middle School in Needham, Massachusetts. While she knew there were quite a few sets of twins in their graduating class, she didn't realize just how many until they got closer and closer to graduation day.

It turns out the eighth-grade class had twenty-three sets of twins; there is also a student with a twin at a different school nearby, bringing the grand total to 47 twin graduates. 

• “Just the sheer number, the volume, and in comparison, typically we have between five and 10 sets of twins, but to have 23 … it’s been so fun,” Tamatha told the Boston Globe.

🤪 Thankfully the twins didn't cause too much confusion for the teachers, as there are only 10 sets of identicals in the class (they did swap clothes on April Fools' Day once though, confusing students and teachers alike.).

🧠 When smarts run in the family... A central Florida family may have made history after all four daughters were named valedictorian in their respective classes at the same school – a feat that reportedly has a 1 in an 11 billion chance of occurring. 

👏 The heroic hand... A former truck driver who lost all four fingers of his right hand in a work accident has been fitted with a novel 3D-printed device called a Hero Gauntlet by the UK company Open Bionic, which allows him to grip and hold things on his own. 

🌳 Strut your stuff... New Zealand's "Tree of the Year" competition takes place from March to May each year, seeking to track down New Zealand’s most interesting trees and their stories. This year's winner is "The Walking Tree," a tall floral tree with twin trunks that make it look like it's strutting in high heels. Check it out here.

Who doesn't want to feel that zenned-out👆(poison apple aside)? The simple act of sitting with yourself and centering can have some amazing effects on the body and mind. 

🧘‍♀️ Take the leap: This 10-minute Grounding Meditation uses a variety of techniques to recenter and come back to yourself if you're having a particularly busy or overwhelming day.

Now there's good news everywhere, but in What's Your Win, we celebrate all of the positivity happening right here in our DONUT community. There's always something to celebrate, and nothing is too big or too small 🥰. 

Check out the wins we received this week! It seems this year is the summer of new hobbies...

📣 Miller D. from Atlanta, Georgia, is ready to cheer on his team...

• "I’m in college and decided to train and try out for a division 1 sport that I’ve never done before (cheerleading) and ended up making the team!"

🏺 Chrissy J. from Universal City, Texas, is trying a new hobby...

• "I'm starting pottery wheel classes this evening, something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m so excited to learn and create!!!"

🧵 Richard from Duluth, Minnesota, is carrying on his wife's passion...

• "My wife used to do counted cross stich for family and friends for many years. Unfortunately she passed away in 2020. I have attempted to carry on her hard work. So far I have done three graduations, two baby births, and just completed my third wedding cross stich. I have officiated at all three weddings thus far. Not bad for an 88 year old man."

Now I totally get it: life can get busy and overwhelming. It's hard to see the bright side sometimes. 

• But this isn't about toxic positivity – it's about perspective and expectations (which some, like our CEO, say is the secret to happiness). There truly is always something to be grateful for, even if it's as simple as your favorite cozy blanket or a fantastic latte you had earlier today. 

What's Your Win is about taking a moment to remember the good things in life. Big or small, it's all worth celebrating. And who knows? Sharing your win might inspire someone else to recognize the good in theirs🥰.

Share your everyday wins and gratitude here for a chance to be featured in next week's newsletter and have a positive impact on a stranger's life.

Submit a win – or a friend/partner/family member's win – here.

Put your thinking caps on... how many of these can you get?

1. Which famous country singer once lost her own “look-alike” contest?
2. What are the first names of the five members of One Direction (pre-2015)?
3. Which foods comprised the first meal eaten in space?

(keep scrolling for the answers)

👆 Check out the referral prizes you can get, just for introducing people you know to little old us. 

What to do: Copy your unique link below, then send it to anyone who you think would like Positive DONUT. Once you hit each milestone, you'll get an email with a link to claim your prize.

Start referring.👇

1. Dolly Parton 🎤
2. Harry, Niall, Zayn, Louis, and Liam 🇬🇧 
3. Two servings of pureed meat and one of chocolate sauce 🚀. They were eaten in the form of paste, which was squeezed from tubes, just like toothpaste.

Hit that reply button and let me know, I read every response. Have a great week!🥰

–Kailyn

P.S. Enjoying this newsletter and want to support my work? It'd mean the world if you told a friend or two about Positive DONUT. You can even win sweet, sweet prizes for each person you refer using your unique link (found two sections above).