Years ago it became clear to me that most people view the world as a negative, scary place — and it’s not hard to see why. The media has always known that fear gets attention. ‘What bleeds, leads.’ It works commercially. But it comes at a cost.

Most people I speak to don’t watch mainstream news at all any more. Not because they don’t care, but because it leaves them feeling worse. Anxious. Helpless. Overwhelmed.

I felt it too. One day I was driving, flicking through radio stations, looking for something — anything — that wasn’t more bad news. There wasn’t one. And that thought stuck with me: why does music get to offer you dozens of genres and moods, but news only comes in one flavour?

It became personal when I watched my parents decline. My stepfather had the news on constantly, in two rooms, from the moment he woke up. All he could talk about was the latest catastrophe. He and my mother had been clinically depressed for years. I’m convinced the relentless negativity played a significant part in that.

There has to be another way.

So I started Global Positive News Network on a dime and a prayer. I knew very little about technology. I struggled for months that turned into years. I started and stopped out of frustration more times than I can count. But I didn’t quit.

Today GPNN reaches over 1 million people on Instagram alone. The stories are real. The impact is real. And the mission hasn’t changed: to show you that genuinely good things are happening in the world every single day — you just need somewhere to find them.

Positive News With Purpose. That’s what this is.