Where are my roots of optimism?
Winston Churchill once said “For I myself am an optimist, it does not seem to be much use to be anything else.” Like him, I feel it is best to live an optimistic life. Optimism is within all of us, but for it to grow it needs to be nurtured. I have been blessed to have many sources which encourage optimism in my life,including family, friends, failures, and faith. Family is a source of optimism that many people take for granted, but I know their importance in my daily life and the influence they have on me. My two older sisters and parents have been good examples of seeing the positive in all things. My older helps me to to become optimistic when i am upset. She talks to me and has enlightened me on how to solve
…show more content…
My many friends are also there to help. Studies show daily social support is a key factor in feeling optimism. This is even recognized in the optimist pledge when it says, “To make all your friends feel that there is something in them”. My friends excel at doing just that. They look at my positive traits and talents and focus on them instead of my faults. They are there to talk to, joke and laugh with, and confide in. My friends constantly encourage me which helps me to notice all the positive in my everyday life. In addition to the friends I have at school, I have many teammates that support me. Throughout my many years of sports, including softball, volleyball, basketball, soccer, and track, my teammates keep me motivated by encouraging and challenging me to improve. I have been on losing and winning teams, but as a team we stay optimistic and that carries into my individual …show more content…
Sometimes this failure can even occur with my friends and teammate. For example, during my last basketball season we were losing every game. Though My team was striving for victory, we could not achieve our goal. Despite our many defeats we remained hopeful that we would win the next game. In one of our final games we won with one point. Even though that was the only game we won in the entire season, we always remained positive and focused on improving our skills. With every failure, I learn how to see each one as a success in disguise.Thomas edison once said “ I have not failed. I have only found 10,000 ways that dont work”. Each of his failures was a success in finding a way that didn’t work. Being an optimist though, means to be persistent in things but also learning from negative experiences. As one of the recipes my sister and I tried we made macarons. We did everything the recipe said but it didn’t work out. I saw this experience as something to learn from and that not everything works out as we planned. Failure will always be something that gives us a reason to work harder but also to be more
Whether we are naturally an optimist or more of a pessimist, it’s impossible to know what the future holds. So perhaps the best of both worlds is to be a realistic optimist - someone who tends to maintain a positive outlook, but within the constraints of what they know about the world (actionforhappiness.org).
I believe that in order to live life with a smile on your face, you have to have patience. I believe this because I have had to be patient. I am where I am in sports and life in general because I’ve been patient. Similar, in a way, to Aaron Rodgers.
Optimism is applicable to both crises and normal living. It has been shown how optimism brings about the good life amidst catastrophe, but what happens between major life events? One cannot live the good life without a sense of purpose. Optimism encompasses both goals and one’s hope in their accomplishment, giving one a sense of purpose and an anticipation of happiness in times of comfort or distress and keeping the individual progressing within their life story. Thus, a positive view of the future is critical to the good life in adversity or
Firstly, optimism increases an individual’s motivation in order to accomplish their goals. Additionally, people who encourage themselves to accomplish what they want, tend to be successful in life. Therefore,
Although too much positivity can lead to naiveté, I still believe in the power of optimism. After a long day, nothing beats the feeling knowing that you made someone else smile and believe, if for just a second, the world is a wonderful place. Being positive is a choice. And contrary to popular belief, it’s not always easy. There are times that you may want to give up or just be content with being negative. But, you must pick yourself back up and remember that tomorrow is another day, and every day is an opportunity to make your situation better. As Richard M. DeVos said, “Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push. A smile. A world of optimism and hope. A 'you can do it' when things are tough.” This is an idea that I try to live by every day; my state of eternal optimism.
Failure can cause a torrent of mixed emotions and thoughts. One can begin to doubt their motives for even attempting to succeed at a certain task. Some people may choose to give up after failure, but there are a select few who rise up to the occasion and move forward to try and succeed no matter how many tries it takes. By overcoming those difficult moments in life, it gives a person a sense of accomplishment and pride and that alone is a beautiful thing.
Firstly, people who show an optimism bias feel more happy and satisfied with their life. These people are also more in control of and engaged in their life’s goal, they will not just think about happy thoughts and wait for life to pass, instead they will be engaged in a meaningful life and do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals. They are also less likely to give up on a difficult situation and will cope with it. These are people who will not wait for the rain to pass but who learn to dance in the rain in order to fulfil their life’s goal. Unrealistic optimism shows an increased well-being and happiness. With this increased well-being, unrealistically optimistic people are also more able to pick themselves up after a major life
Optimistic. Confident about the future. Many people may designate this term to describe me. On the outside, I try to appear this way; whereas on the inside, I am the exact opposite. My “optimism” is something I display to make others content, so they expect an ideal outcome. We live in a sinister world, so I conceal my pessimism and attempt to bring some positivity into it with my deceiving optimism. In my opinion, it is better to foresee failure, than to expect success and be disappointed. School is a place where my pessimism doubtlessly shines.
Merriam -Webster defines hope as “a desire accompanied by expectation or belief in fulfillment.” I see hope as neither polished nor refined. Hope sometimes is misunderstood as a characteristic that has to do with religion; however, hope is used in more than just a religious sense. Although hope is not a physical attribute, one can easily see the physical appearance of the person change, who has hope. Hope fuels desire to not give up, it provokes a positive outlook on the future, and makes way for change.
It has become widely accepted that optimism serves as a predictor of positive health outcomes (Rasmussen, H., Scheier, M., & Greenhouse, J., 2009). One particular study assessed the role of optimism and pessimism in children and adolescents. This study revealed the importance of developing optimism in children as it serves as a protective factor, not just in daily life hassles, but in medical complications as well. Furthermore, having an optimistic outlook on the future serves as a predictor of better medication and medical treatment adherence in children and adolescence with chronic illnesses. The development of an optimistic mindset development in childhood is particularly important in that it also serves to promote adult well-being (Ey et al., 2004). An additional study assessed the roles of optimism and pessimism on mental health and physical health. The findings from this study emphasize the importance of optimism on mental and physical well-being, which is particularly important for understanding the role of optimism in chronic illnesses, such as HIV
Success and failure seem to be pretty distinct opposites, but many times the differences between success and failure aren’t as obvious as we may think them to be. Sometimes a failure can be turned into a success if you are willing to look back at them, and are open to learning from them. Many times, one’s attitude toward a failure can determine whether or not anything is learned from it. Those who remain upbeat and positive after a failure may be able to get something out of it, but those who just don’t think about it and ignore it won’t get anything from it.
A time when I experiences failure is when I made the B team for volleyball. From not making the A team I learn a lot of lessons. I knew that if I wanted to be on the A team then I was going to the have to push myself to improve. I knew that just because I didn’t make the team that I wanted to I shouldn’t give up and quit. I also knew that because I didn’t make the team that I want I couldn’t take it out on other people. I had to show good character and prove that I wasn’t taking it out on anyone else. I also knew that I could set long term and short term goals to reach to become better.
"The feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best" (dictionary.com). What comes out of this definition, is the word hope. Hope is one of the positive constructs in psychology. C.R. Snyder wrote an article called "Approaching Hope" and it best describes the word and how it can be measured.
These phycologists have wondered if there are more optimist or pessimists in the world. They have made an attempt to find out what approach is greater or better. There are some advantages to optimism because it makes people feel better about life, however, there are also some advantages to pessimism in that looking at the unfortunate side of things can help some pessimists cope better with the world. Both optimism and pessimism have important roles to play the lives of everybody. Being optimist permits people to go after their goals in a positive way, to dream bigger and better dreams, which they can strive to work towards. Optimist also tend to respond better to positive feedback, and a part of being an optimist may be producing this feedback for themselves, example, thinking positive thoughts. While on the other hand, being pessimistic may help people to better acknowledge negative feedback and reduce their natural anxiety to perform better. Once again, part of the reason why pessimist generates negative thoughts is that it helps them perform a lot better. People tend to utilize both optimism and pessimism in order for them gain out of their advantages. People who are mainly concerned with growth or advancement often manifest an optimistic view, whereas those who are concerned with safety and security, or avoiding negative outcomes, focus more on pessimism in order to improve their
Not many people in the world today express happiness, we always hear about the bad and despair in the world around us. I try to stay happy and positive as much as I can, because I think happiness can be spread through the littlest things in life. In a world today where all you hear about is the bad going on around you, having something to hold onto and give you hope can change the outlook of that situation. I try to live all of my days by being positive and happy,