More on whining

Well since my recent post about our city's self-recognition festival, I've been trying to check myself about whining about the heat or other things and I'm still sucking. I'm having trouble figuring out what to say when people ask what I've been up to or how it's going if I'm not going to grumble. I don't want to so cnesor my thoughts as to begin to have bland conversations that are laundry lists of tasks accomplished. Pain or suffering is a common denominator that can draw people together. I don't want to pretend I have none, I just want to stop seeing pain everywhere. In reality in my clearest moments of thinking I see purpose behind everything, even hours of sweating in a bulletproof vest (light personal protection that has been unavailable for the vast majority of the worlds conflicts, none of which I've been pressed or requested to be involved in). I want my conversations to carry the hope and optimism that a big picture view of things can offer. Not to paint myself as a hero with no need of a savior, but as a hopeful man who trusts a book's author even when he doesn't like where the story has gone so far.
I'm just not sure how to do that without sounding cheesy...