February 2022 Events: Optimist Day
Hello everyone! February 3rd is Optimist Day.
Optimist Day is celebrated on the first Thursday of February. It was created by Optimist International in 2017 to recognize volunteers and youth organizations for their impact on communities, but this day can also be understood as celebrating optimism in general.
What is optimism
Optimism is expecting good things to happen:
- Feeling hopeful for the future
- Expecting things to work out for the best
- Feeling that you can succeed despite challenges
- Thinking that negative events can still lead to positive results
- Seeing challenges as opportunities
- Feeling grateful for good things
Benefits of optimism
People who are optimistic tend to have better physical health:
- Lower risk of all-cause mortality
- Lower risk of cardiovascular disease
- Higher survival rate for cancer
- Improved immune system functioning
- More likely to engage in other healthy habits
- Increased lifespan
People who are optimistic also tend to have better mental health:
- Less distress in response to obstacles
- Less stress in general
- More likely to persist at goals
- More likely to succeed at goals
- More likely to take risks that create positive events in life
Realistic vs. unrealistic optimism
Optimism yields the best results when it is combined with realism.
People who are realistically optimistic:
- Are cautiously hopeful
- Are able to do what is needed to create the outcomes they hope for
- Are able to acknowledge negative realities but still envision positive outcomes
- Are able to be honest with themselves about what is happening
- Are more likely to anticipate risks, mitigate them, and create successful plans
People who are unrealistically optimistic:
- Are convinced they will experience more positive events than is actually the case
- Are less willing to change direction when necessary due to not seeing problems
- Are less able to cope with negative experiences
- Are less capable of solving problems due to discarding negative information
- Can sometimes exhibit toxic positivity (i.e. denying or invalidating the negative experiences of others)
Tips for building optimism
Here are some research-based tips for shifting in a more optimistic direction:
- Reframe stressful events in terms of their potential positive effects
- Be caring and forgiving to yourself if things don’t go well (i.e. self-compassion)
- Identify and accept negative feelings so that you’re then able to release them more easily
- Avoid comparing to other people and focus on what feels happy in your life
- Try to find humor or irony in absurd/awful situations if you’re able to 😊
Here are some additional tips for avoiding possible pitfalls of unrealistic optimism:
- Try to see situations from an outside perspective
- Try to look for specific, objective information
- Try to predict and plan for possible negative outcomes before starting a project
Reflection
What is an example of a situation where you feel realistically optimistic?
Sources:
https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/optimism-day/
https://nationaldaycalendar.com/optimist-day-first-thursday-in-february/
https://www.verywellmind.com/the-benefits-of-optimism-3144811
https://wildwoodhealth.com/optimism-is-it-really-beneficial-to-your-health/
https://psychcentral.com/lib/realism-and-optimism-do-you-need-both
https://www.armyresilience.army.mil/ard/R2/Realistic-Optimism.html
https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/optimism-bias/
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_prime_your_mind_for_optimism
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Thankyou for this post @QuietMagic !
It's very insightful, having read everything you've included it's obvious you're very educated on optimism and just how positive(aha :P) it can be when combined with realism, making a healthy outlook in this life :) So sad I only found this post now and not on actual positivity day
The question! What is an example of a situation where you feel realistically optimistic? One of my best examples for realistic optimism is in situations where I'm planning and thinking for the future :) I remain hopeful about my prospects and abilities, but try to look to this future with balance, it can go as I've hoped but life allows for good and bad, it won't be perfect but it can be great
@KatieTheBigRockOne
Haha, thank you. 💜 Yeah, I've just personally been bothered by it if I'm feeling hopeless and someone tells me that I *must* be hopeful or else there's something wrong with me. So I wanted to write something that doesn't do that. 😊 And doing some research helps me feel confident that I can respond if someone criticizes it by saying "well you're just pushing your own personal biases".
That sounds great what you're describing with making plans for the future. You're able to recognize what you're good at and the good things that are likely possible, but you're able to roll with it if things don't go exactly as you want.
Hi I have BPD I'm having real bad time with low moods does anyone know some distractions to make me feel better
@Howegeorgia20
Hi, thanks for reaching out and sorry to hear that you're struggling. 💜 Here are a few posts that might be relevant that talk about different activities you can do to feel better in the moment.
https://www.7cups.com/forum/PersonalityDisordersSupport_81/DBTuesday_2147/Module2DistressToleranceDiscussion4SelfSoothing_267848/
@QuietMagic I hope I'm not late to this response! To answer the question, I feel realistically optimistic when I wake up in the mornings and just think to myself that today is going to be a good day. No matter what happened the day before, I just like to have that mindset in the mornings that today is going to be a good day. :)
Possibly too late to this but I'd like to answer anyway..
Having been very much a pessimist for most of my life, I've recently (past couple of years) begun to develop a cautiously optimistic side, thanks in large part to the fact I no longer watch the news in any great detail (just enough to keep up to date) and instead utilise social media and the Internet to find and follow those wonderful "positive news" sites instead.
The ones like Happiful, Smiley News, etc, where they report on the good, the positive, the NICE people doing GOOD things and the wonderful side of humanity that gets eclipsed by the evil that just a few can cause.
My realistic positivity is what I'd also call radical acceptance, to a degree, after learning about it in a couple of different types of therapy:
'Accepting that something is unpleasant, but at the same time, starting to make changes that will get you out of it, or make it easier to bear.'
Half empty, half full.
I found that if you look at most unpleasant things in life with that attitude, it makes everything so much easier to bear.
@AzureVulpine
Hi, you're not too late! I like that phrase "cautiously optimistic" you used. 😊 Like you said, there are lots of people doing good and helpful things in the world, and sometimes conventional news coverage misses those things.
Also love the way you've explained radical acceptance. "This is pretty unpleasant. But I guess it's here, so I have to either figure out how to change it or figure out how to live with it."
A situation where I feel realistically optimistic:
I am saving money to someday move onto my own apartment by myself or with a partner. I am aware that will take me years and I will still sometimes feel upset about sharing a home with people, but I like the fact that I am doing something about it and that I am managing my money in a balanced way in which I am saving quite a lot but as well I am making sure to cover all my needs.
@QuietMagic
I felt realistically optimistic - on a day where I completed one month at my new job - happy because I am finally making some reliable finances after spending many years under duress.