Optimism vs positivity.

A friend of mine said he tried to be an optimist the other day. I was intrigued, and he told me about it. This one day, he forgot that he took his bike to the bus in the morning. So when he was going home, switching busses, he got on the bus instead of on his bike. He realised when he got off the second bus, realising he really wanted his bike. So he got on the bus going back to where his bike was. When he got there, it started pouring, so he had to stop for cover.

All and all, something that could’ve taken 10 minutes took about an hour. And he got wet.

But, he told me, he tried to be an optimist about it. He tried to think happy thoughts, trying to find things about the whole situation that were good. That he got exercise, that he had to practice his patience waiting for the bus and so on.

The thing is, what he tried wasn’t being optimistic. He tried thinking positive thoughts when all of the circumstances were shit.

Optimism is seeing everything from the best possible outcome on beforehand. It’s finding solutions that others won’t find because you see the upsides of a situation before it occurs. Optimism is a perspective.

One can think negative thoughts and still be an optimist. My friend could have been furious about the situation he put himself in, yet seen the benefits from the whole thing. He could also have seen a possibility to take a walk for his bike the next morning.

Applying the short term positivity and thinking it’s optimism will never work. Never. Because positivity is about a feeling, about thoughts on a single micro thing. Optimism is a perspective that one carries with them all the time. It’s about seeing paths that others don’t, just because you see the upsides that are invisible to some.

Optimism is the long term game.