I saw a post the other day that made me laugh, basically here is the gist: The pessimist sees the glass half empty, the optimist sees the glass as half full, the scientist sees the glass as full, half water/half air. We now know that being an optimist is connected to happiness. I know all you realists and pessimists have no interest in hearing this idea. The funniest part to me is that when research focused on who was more realistic about themselves, pessimists or optimists, well pessimists were more accurate than optimists. This may encourage you to think that it is better to be realistic than over confident. Apparently not if you want to be “happy”.
When I was in my thirties I had the bright idea that maybe I had it all wrong being realistic about myself, I decided I was being far to hard on myself and I should lighten up. This took form in a complete revamping of how I self evaluate and honestly has taught me so much about life and happiness. I pushed myself to become an optimist about everything, especially about myself self. Here is the kicker I might be over confident in my self evaluation but my business and life have never been better. My optimism has spread to how I evaluate others and they don’t disappointment me either. I have more fun and love life more now as an optimist. If your tired of being unhappy, jump on the optimistic ship don’t worry we won’t sink the boat will grow to fit us all. Try it out for a day and see how you feel.
Greta Jaeger, LPC and Certified Coach