How optimistic are you about your life? I’m reading and listening on Audible to a book called, “Girl, Wash Your Face” by Rachel Hollis. I listened to the author read her book about lies we believe and how to move past them so we can become who we were meant to be. Great book. Great listen. If I read and listen then it’s a book that truly has spoken to me. Her first chapter is on happiness and optimism. The lie–something else will make me happy. I got to thinking about the small things in life that we make bigger than life. I find myself in situations in which the “right now” is not where most folks want to be–something else will make me happy. The nature of my work and my personality is to serve and present information that is constantly evaluated. I find the roller coaster ride of pleasing others and comparison to be exhausting. This also got me thinking. In her book, this sentence jumped out at me

“It’s not about where you are but WHO you are.”

So who are you when you show up in the now? Are you optimistic?

…an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome (Merriam Webster)

As humans, how we show up matters. In a world in which every word is examined, we entertain to get attention, and we come home feeling it wasn’t good enough, I have to wonder if we could change the tide and create space for optimism.

The next time you find yourself in unfavorable conditions or a situation in which you think it’s a waste of time, awkward, hurtful, or just ridiculous ask yourself how you (not them) could build “an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events and anticipate the best possible outcome”. If you are the white glove dust monitor, critic, glass half empty kind of person then do yourself a favor and those around you a favor. Ask what you can do to engage, to be optimistic, and to support.

Words like “inclination”, “the most favorable”, “to anticipate” give us space to realize that nothing is perfect–we don’t aim for perfection, we aim for optimism. Did you know that perfectionism is a mindset of “what will they think of me?” Optimism is working together to grow, engage, and quite frankly, be kind to yourself and others. What will they think of me is another post for another day that includes setting healthier boundaries. I found a great worksheet on healthy boundaries that I hope to talk about later.

This month’s word is optimism. What does the word mean to you? What are some things you do to practice optimism? I would love to hear from you. Anything I write about,  I’m working on. I will not claim perfectionism and worry about “what you will think of me”, but I will grow, engage, and try to be kind to myself and others.