The 20 Best Feel-Good Stories of 2018

It's no secret that 2018 has been a rough year. So it's all too easy to forget that, tucked away between bickering global powers and natural disasters, there are happy stories to be found—if you look for them, that is. Even though the year is just getting started, there's already been enough good stuff in the news to make your day. So read on, and feel your spirits rise with these incredible feel-good stories. And if you really want to start your day off right, try to avoid these 10 Morning Habits Destroying Your Productivity.

Nadia Sparkes is a 12-year-old with a penchant for picking up litter on her way to and from school. Unfortunately, her peers saw this as cause for mockery rather than applause and gave her the nickname "Trash Girl." But Sparkes' didn't take the moniker to heart and kept collecting garbage. Her story picked up media traction, and she now has a Facebook group, Team Trash Girl, with almost 3,000 members who support her eco-friendly habits. And when you want to help the earth, This is the Single Best Way to Save the Planet.

Typically, a day at the airport is the start of anything but a feel-good story. But Cora the Corgi, who was rescued from a neglectful family, is anything but a typical dog. During a layover at the Seattle airport, Cora approached a random man sitting by himself and plopped down at his feet. It turns out the man had lost his dog just the night before, so a hearty helping of puppy love was just what the man needed. If this story's got you thinking about rescuing a dog, make sure you're aware of the 10 Things You Need to Know Before Adopting a Shelter Dog.

It's been four months since Hurricane Maria, and nearly half million people in Puerto Rico are still without power. Rather than sit at home and feel powerless, 15-year-old Gomez decided to do something about it. He started a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to give solar lamps to people without power. To date, he's raised nearly $130,000 and has used the money to secure almost $3,000 solar lamps and 300 hand-powered washing machines so that people without power can have clean clothes and sheets. Even though his original fundraising goal was $100,000, Colon doesn't plan to stop until people no longer need lamps and washers or the money runs out. The campaign is still accepting donations.

At just 16 years of age, Jade Hameister has already accomplished more extraordinary feats than some adults will do in a lifetime, having skated across Greenland's biggest ice cap and skied to the North Pole. But that won't stop internet trolls from giving her grief. A few years ago she gave a TEDx talk encouraging girls to not give up on their dreams. Once the talk was posted on YouTube the trolling began, with many YouTube commenters suggesting she stop talking and start making them a sandwich. So a sandwich she made… then she skied it to the South Pole and offered it to any troll willing to go there and fetch it. If that epic burn has what it takes to brighten your day, then This Video of Jimmy Kimmel and Matt Damon Insulting Each Other Is the Funniest Thing You'll See All Day.

After Trump's extreme dislike of sharks was brought to national attention by Stormy Daniels in an interview, the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society both experienced a surge of first-time donors who were giving charitably in Trump's name. It's a great example of using your hate for good, rather than evil.

Just a few months ago, the seemingly endless conflict between South and North Korea felt like it was coming to a dangerous head. But the two countries cast their differences aside and united as one to play ice hockey as a single team at the Winter Olympics. It was an inspiring moment that transcended sports and brought hope and good feels to everyone following the games, with North Korea's cheerleaders making sure everyone stayed positive.

There are plenty of feel-good stories when it comes to lottery winners, but the story of Canadian Bill Pendergast might take the cake. Two years ago, Pendergast and his family lost everything when their house burned down in a wildfire. Pendergast bought a lotto ticket on a whim while visiting his father and found out the next day that he was a millionaire. He and his wife plan to use the money to finish their new home, take a family vacation… and buy a new Mustang. Treat yo' self, Bill!

It's not unusual for someone to spend a lot of time planning a wedding proposal. It's slightly less common for both partners to be making plans at the same time. But both members of a couple proposing at the same time is practically unheard of. Yet that's what happened in the case of Tori Monaco and Berkley Cade, who both popped the question during a family game of Pictionary. The double proposal wasn't entirely unplanned—Cade's mother knew both were planning on proposing and coordinated the entire thing without letting either of them know what was going on. That's the kind of mom prank we can get behind.

Somebody getting canned isn't usually cause for celebration, but that's not the case with Gavel, a German Shepherd who couldn't make the cut as a police dog. Despite intensive training, Gavel was just too sweet to be a cop. Fortunately, his time on the unemployment roster was very short, and Gavel was soon offered another job by the Governor of Queensland, to serve as Vice-Regal Dog.

All Avery Huddleston of Buffalo, IL, wanted for his seventh birthday was to send school supplies to students in Puerto Rico affected by Hurricane Maria, but he ended up getting a lot more than that. Workers who were restoring power to hard hit areas of Puerto Rico volunteered to deliver Avery's present. In the process, they discovered that the school in Rio Grande was still almost entirely without power. The problem was traced back to a nearby damaged transformer that was easily fixed. Workers say if it wasn't for Avery, the children at that school would still be learning in the dark.

Nothing can warm the heart quite like two different species of animals getting along. And that's exactly the case here, where a heartbroken dog mom who lost her entire litter of puppies took a baby capuchin monkey under her care, nursing the little feller and letting him ride her like a horse. Now the two are inseparable. And adorable.

Drake gave away his entire $996,000 budget for a music video. The video he made instead for "God's Plan" shows him handing out stacks of cash, buying a family a car, giving someone a college scholarship, and buying groceries for an entire store full of customers. It's a refreshing change of pace from the usual music video fare, and a worthwhile watch if you're in need of a good cry.

A woman who witnessed a mugging in the making decided to take action. Tess Aboughoushe chased after a man she saw rob a woman on the street. A long distance runner, it didn't take her long to catch up to the man, who was trying to hide behind a dumpster. Upon being caught, the man began crying and returned the wallet, so Aboughoushe took would-be robber to a nearby shop and bought him a coffee, before directing him to a library where he could find social workers to help him get home. It's a rare instance of a robbery gone right.

Japanese farmers have figured out a way to make your favorite on-the-go snack even more portable by developing a banana with an edible, digestible skin. Currently the bananas are only available in Japan, but the farmers who made them are considering eventually shipping them overseas, which means someday in the not-too-distant future you can eat a banana while walking down the street and not have to worry about what to do with the peel.

A cow in Poland was destined for the slaughterhouse, but she wasn't having any of it. Rather than get into the truck heading to certain death, she knocked a hole in a fence and made a run for it, breaking a worker's arm in the process. Upon escape, she swam to an island in the middle of a lake, and has been living there since last month, avoiding capture several times. A local politician granted her a stay of execution, and the cow died of natural causes not long after.

Tired of hearing about people relying on charity to cover their healthcare costs, KIRO 7 in Seattle spent $12,000 to buy $1,000,000 in medical debt, and forgave it all. The station has since set up a website for people who want to contribute to more medical debt forgiveness.

This year a pit bull mix rescued from a dog fighting ring in the Bronx had a few fantastic wingmen helping him find his Valentine. The NYPD took Orson all over town hoping to help him find a forever home.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb

In a slightly different vein of feel-good news, the town of New Miami, Ohio, has been ordered by a judge to pay back over $3 million in unconstitutional speed camera tickets. That's one of those feel-good stories that should make anyone ever caught in a trap smile.

Almost 11 years after her parents gave her dog to a local shelter, Nicole Grimes inadvertently re-adopted the pet, Chloe, she lost as a child. She saw the dog in the Facebook post of a friend who was trying to re-home the elderly pooch. Grimes couldn't resist the dog who reminded her so much of her childhood pet, and later a microchip scan confirmed she had, in fact, found the pet she lost as a child.

In perhaps the most uplifting news story of the year, research has shown that drinking is better for you in the long haul than exercise, with those who drank one or two beers or glasses of wine every day running a lesser risk of a premature death than those who exercised 15-45 minutes daily. That's definitely something to feel good about.

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