Much has been said about the benefit of ‘glass half-full thinking,’ but many will suggest that following that perception only blinds you to the reality of a situation. After all, a glass isn’t half filled or half empty, simply half of it has been used to store water.
But that doesn’t mean optimism has to be less true or somehow more up-in-the-clouds than a constant pessimistic worldview. After all, the latter can often miss the very real warmth, love and enjoyment to be had out in the world, even if it can be difficult to see that sometimes.
As such, optimism is often something you have to work at, but doing so can help you live more fully, appreciate the smaller things, and hold gratitude for everything you have in your life. Doing so helps you live more completely, especially at a time when the complexity and vitriol of modern life and culture can weigh you down.
In this post, then, we’ll discuss the importance of welcoming optimism into your life. We’ll also discuss how to enact such a perspective, without losing your clarity. With that in mind, let’s get started:
Optimism Helps You Do More With Less
Optimism gives you the strength to look at what you have and feel inspired to make the most of it. This can come down to even the most basic daily planning tasks, like making do with basic and limited ingredients for the rest of the week, and making simple but delicious meals until you next go shopping.
This perspective means you’re more willing to give things a go, and you won’t discount marginal improvements. Let’s say you’re trying to lose weight, but you’re out of shape and want to exercise more. You may think it’s not worth heading outside to exercise until you feel better about yourself, but that’s not true.
Even a simple walk around your local neighborhood can go a long way in strengthening your joints and improving your mental health. As you see, optimism inspires you to do more with a limited number of options. It can then let you leverage having less-than-average to make more-than-average. It will also keep your day-to-day sense of growth more sustainable. All it takes is a little optimism.
Optimism Encourages You To Contribute
When you assume something is a lost cause, it’s unlikely that you’ll actually focus your efforts to improve it. This can cause even the most basic considerations in your life. For example, it might be that a cracked tile in your bathroom is causing a mismatched aesthetic. You’re not happy with this, but you can’t find the perfect matching tile, so you wait until you can retile it all.
However, simply fixing the tile or finding a good enough substitute could have helped that small sense of irritation you get every time you shower, remembering the task that you’re constantly putting off. Optimism can help you take the first step, even if it’s imperfect, allowing you to see what can be done now and worry about being perfect later.
This can apply to the most important tasks in the world. For example, you’re unlikely to resolve world hunger or gender equality by yourself. That said, taking the time to donate to a worthy charity can help you inch the world just a little closer to that reality. Optimism works wonders for such an effort.
Optimism Builds Communities & Friendships
Optimism allows you to build communities with people who are also optimistic. It’s hard to sustain connections and relationships with people who are constantly dour or rarely see the point in putting effort forward.
This shows that optimism is our natural state, because we want to be around others who feel they can achieve, that they have the chance to make a difference, and that if only they try, something wonderful could happen.
These people uplift you and help you see things in a new light. Could it be that you’ll become the same kind of light for someone else? While that might not be your direct intention, it’s wonderful what side-benefits optimism can offer you.
Optimism Helps You Endure
Hope and optimism can help you look towards a better tomorrow, even if issues right now are relatively tough and hard to see past.
For example, it may be that your child is currently experiencing developmental issues, but you’ve noticed that they’ve taken to reading and really do seem to be improving in their communication skills.
Investing more time in reading with them, closely working with their teachers, and giving them the support they need, even if they require extra assistance, is the optimistic investment that the child needs, and it could quite significantly change their lives.
With this advice, we hope you can see that optimism, no matter how stark the situation, is always worth curating.
