Kasey Goodfellow strives for a life of laughter, positivity, and happiness

Seated on a couch by a large window at Thornwell Books, Kasey Goodfellow held a yellow book the same shade as her velvet blazer — “Humor Me,” by Chris Duffy, about how more laughter can make you “more present, creative, connected, and happy.”

Since she arrived for the interview early, Goodfellow decided to browse the shelves.

“It’s so funny because the book I picked up when I walked in … I picked up ‘Humor Me,’” Goodfellow said with a bright, friendly smile. “I was thinking, ‘that looks like my book.’ I’m totally buying it. I started reading and it’s really good (because) that’s how I feel about humor.”

Goodfellow is Morganton Main Street’s community events coordinator, a role she has been in for six years where her personality and creativity shine.

For Goodfellow, staying upbeat, laughing, and living a happy life are top priorities. Having her fair share of trauma, including the death of her father when she was only 22, Goodfellow said that rather than allowing life to make her bitter, she chose to find “the sunny side of the street all the time.”

She doesn’t credit her positivity to her own strength, though. It’s Goodfellow’s loved ones who uplift her.

“I surround myself with amazing people,” she said. “I have an amazing family and I have phenomenal, gorgeous friends who just have the biggest hearts and always remind me of who I am if I forget.”

Goodfellow is known to throw themed parties to bring her friends together, a tradition that started because finding time to hang out and spend quality time together isn’t always easy for adults.

“I started to bring together a group of women that, a lot of them didn’t know each other or they just knew of each other and really the only commonality was their friendship with me,” Goodfellow said. “I found it fascinating and a really beautiful process how these women would come together and just laugh and find these connections.”

Goodfellow said she is the type of friend who sends encouraging text messages to her friends and loved ones. They do the same for her.

“There’s always time to just stop and take a moment to fill somebody’s cup,” she said. “I’m totally about girl power, all the way. Just lifting up other women and making us see ourselves in the true light that we’re in because sometimes we can be so hard on ourselves.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What’s it like living at a farmhouse?I am so incredibly grateful to live there. There are red barns and fields and a river that runs back behind the house, and it’s just a place to go and decompress. I am so grateful and lucky that I get to live in a place that, if you were to ask me where I would want to live, it’s that kind of place. I feel at peace and at home. When I moved out there, I think it was the first time I really felt at home since my father passed away.

What’s something you’re especially passionate about right now?Our community, and something that’s important to me is inclusion and letting everyone know that this is their downtown. And then overall, I’m passionate about the future and staying positive, physical fitness, self-improvement, and helping others. And chocolate!

What are some of your goals?I just want to be a happy person. We all go on a different journey, and everybody goes through trauma, so just finding the sunny side of the street all the time. A lot of the things that I’ve gone through in my life, one might think that it can make you bitter, but I think it’s just made me appreciate life all the more and have more gratitude for the things that I have.

I feel like the past two years, for me — but this year especially — I’m just practicing more gratitude because I think a lot of times we get caught up in the, ‘I need this, I need that, I want this car,’ and I just am extremely grateful that I love my job and I love who I work with. Makenzie McGinnis is somebody that, our sense of humor is just right there together. We’re different ages and I was worried about our connection and how that would go, but we’re two peas in a pod and it’s just really special.

What advice would you give your neighbors?Love thy neighbor.