Optimism

When I was an emo teenager, I thought that optimism was the same as naivete. It is not.

Being naive means ignoring facts and making foolish decisions. Being optimistic means being hopeful for good results despite knowing that challenges exist. Naivete results from a lack of experience. Optimism results from having tons of experience.

Many folks are pessimists so they can protect themselves from disappointment when things go wrong. This is a fool’s errand and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Pessimism does not drive good action nor decisions. The worst-case outcome becomes a reasonable outcome, as you’re expecting it to happen already.

Optimism is being vulnerable; it’s choosing to be hopeful instead of being “right.” It’s having the confidence in oneself based on past experience that no matter what happens, the situation will be figured out and that everything will be all right. Optimism drives solution-based thinking. If you’ve no hope about the best outcome, you’re going to be less inclined to think clearly about what the best thing to do is.

I don’t believe that people are “optimists” or “pessimists.” How you view life isn’t who you are–it’s just a choice. You can choose to be a pessimist and live a miserable life. Or you can choose to be an optimist and live a happy life, fully aware of how insanely difficult everything is.

I prefer to go the harder route of optimism; of being able to see the good in my future despite challenges. It makes life more fun and hell of a lot less depressing.