Some people are optimists. Some are eternal optimists – no matter how bad things get, they never seem to lose hope for long. Those people have the ability to keep on after everyone else has dropped away because of that sense of hope. I’m one of those optimists.
Having this capacity for hope is a powerful thing. And, in an odd way, it can also be self-defeating. If an eternal optimist bases their hope on an outcome that is truly highly unlikely, then eventually that person will crash. For example, I wanted to be a ballerina when I was a teenager. My parents were dead against it, we had no money, I began in my late teens, and my body wasn’t really built for it. Still, I persisted and was able to find a teacher who accepted me on terms we could both live with. I worked hard and did well, but eventually I had to give up that dream.
I crashed.
But, as an eternal optimist, I eventually replaced that dream with another one – almost as unlikely but not quite. I did partly achieve that new dream, which led to another one that I did fully achieve.
Being an eternal optimist can be rewarding, with a good attitude and approach.
The optimism bias
Quote of the Week
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
― Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan
Maryanne Nicholls is a Registered Psychotherapist. To find out more, gain access to her weekly newsletter, meditations and programmes, sign up at www.thejoyofliving.co .
Maryanne