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BE POSITIVE ON PURPOSE
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YOUR GUIDE TO WAYNE COUNTY’S PEOPLE, PLACES, AND BUSINESSES
COURTNEY ASHLEY BE POSITIVE ON PURPOSE
Courtney is a graduate of Georgia Southern University with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. She recently completed an online course (Entrepreneurship in an Emerging Economy) from Harvard University. A 2007 graduate of Wayne County High School, Courtney is a member of the Leadership Wayne class of 2018-2019 and has completed the Georgia Economic Development training course.
Courtney Ashley
is a confident, self-assured, and determined young woman. However, she wasn’t always that way. Instead of allowing self-doubt and uncertainty to control her, she took control of her life and decided to be positive on purpose!
Courtney & Jonathan Ashley with their children, Ethan and Cori.
IN 2014, Courtney was going through a tough transition after graduating from college. She was unsure what direction to follow and had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. Dealing with "depression, low self-esteem, and insecurities," the one thing she was sure of was that she would not continue down that path. "I knew I didn't want to wake up every morning feeling like that. So, I decided to begin focusing on doing things that made me feel good," Courtney explained. She began serving in her church, participating in community events, and performing random acts of kindness. She quickly realized that the more good things she did for others, the more reasons she found to feel good about each day. “I knew that my habits and thinking would require intentional actions to move from a negative perspective to a positive one. That’s when I realized that had to be ‘positive on purpose,’” Courtney explained.
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s “Be Positive on Purpose is a book that takes you on a bold and courageous journey to uncover toxic environments and behaviors. Negativity is common but also replaceable. Dive into this book if you are ready for positive challenges that will change the way you think, speak, and treat other people.”
The book can be ordered at amazon.com (Books / Self-Help / Personal Transformation)
But she didn't stop there. She thought that if this "positive on purpose" lifestyle helped her, it might help others, so she wrote a book about it.
“I wrote Be Positive on Purpose to share with others my personal experience and living with a negative space and my journey to a more positive lifestyle," Courtney emphasized. The book is interactive and challenges others to perform random acts of kindness and perform self-checks and a self-evaluation to remove "subtle negativity and toxicity from their everyday life."
“My hope is that communities will be changed by those that complete these challenges. I imagine walking in our local grocery store and regularly seeing someone offer to pay for someone else’s groceries. Or people coming together to help elderly people and disable veterans with household chores. Or passing out flowers or water bottles to people on the street,” Courtney explained.
Courtney is not naïve enough to believe these random acts of kindness will just happen. She knows that negative thoughts cannot go away completely. She does believe they can be replaced with positive thoughts but only if individuals decide to be positive on purpose.
In addition to being an author, Courtney created a financial course called "Budget Buddy" that she teaches at women's shelters in Baxley and Waycross. "Through this course, I have been able to help women that battle poverty, domestic violence, and homelessness by setting financial goals and creating and managing a monthly budget which helps lead them to financial independence," she explained.
“I hope everyone that reads this book and completes the positive challenges will cause an increase of positivity in our communities,” Courtney said. |WM
