Optimism is a Superpower… And it’s a Choice

Feeling trapped.

That was always my suffering of choice. I tended to believe that I was a prisoner of circumstance, and that I had no way out.

The cell door was wide open, but I just looked at the three other concrete walls and concluded that my fate was sealed.

I developed a pessimistic and cynical outlook of the world, and it’s how I explained things. It was a defense mechanism to avoid acknowledging my deepest fears. It made me blind to serendipity and luck, and I was on the downward spiral.

I won’t belabor you with the story of how I changed my outlook (that story is readily available on the home page!), but my outlook did change to one that was more optimistic… and my luck changed as well. As did my quality of life.

Right now, we are collectively experiencing a period of extreme pessimism. So much is outside of our control that it’s easy to fall into a trap of believing that everything is permanent, pervasive, and personal.

To everyone that chooses a pessimistic explanatory style, I encourage you to change that. Ask yourselves the quality questions about your pessimistic/cynical beliefs of the world.

When you can start to explain things in a more optimistic light, you begin to open your mind to serendipity and luck. You connect more with others. Then your world begins to change.

While things may seem challenging right now, and there are a lot of things outside of our control, there has never been a better time to be an optimist. It will bring us closer together, and edge us ever closer to a better way of life.