I have been thinking a lot about optimism and how important it is to possess this trait in your daily life. We are constantly faced with issues and dilemmas, obstacles that make us think we are failing or not living the “ideal” life. We get down on ourselves and tend to adopt a “woe is me” attitude. The truth is that being optimistic is hard. It’s actually much easier to wallow in misery and feel like we are getting the short end of the stick. It’s easy to complain. It’s easy to blame. It’s easy to find fault with other people and circumstances that leave us feeling deprived. We get stuck in destructive patterns and stop looking for the silver lining. It is so important to always look for that silver lining because the amazing thing is that there really is a silver lining to every single failure, tragedy or sadness in our lives. Sometimes it might be harder to find, but even the act of looking for it can bring about a complete change in attitude.
There is a series of HBO documentaries called Masterclass. Recently they featured the playwright Edward Albee. He made an interesting (and uplifting) point about failure and mistakes.
“I think people should be adventuresome,” Albee said. “I think people should make mistakes. Make the interesting mistakes. The trick is making more interesting mistakes and doing stuff that you may regret, but what’s wrong with that? There’s more regret in what you don’t do than what you do.”
{Thank you to The Dating Optimist for bringing this fantastic and inspiring quote to my attention. I am now addicted to her blog.}
So start looking for that silver lining, because it’s always there!
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