Increasing Resilience with Realistic Optimism
Written by Cassandra Hirdes
In the book Resilience, The Science of Mastering Life’s Greatest Challenges, the authors define optimism as “a future-oriented attitude, a confidence that things will turn out well” (Charney and Southwick, 2018). The authors discuss how optimism helps individuals cope with challenging situations and foster resilience. However, for me, the idea of being an optimistic can feel challenging and even insincere when you see the pain and suffering that is going on in the world. How can we be positive when so many things are hard right now? In fact, the word optimism conjures up thoughts of individuals who, similar to an ostrich, stick their head in the sand hoping to ignore the negative!
But the truth is, research shows the value of being an optimist. Indeed, one study that looked at former Vietnam prisoners of war found that “optimism was the strongest predictor of psychological health” (Segovia et al., 2015)! And countless other studies show that optimism is good for overall physical and mental health (Carver & Scheier, 2014). So, perhaps my idea of optimism is faulty. Maybe optimism is not about just seeing life through rose-colored glasses or ignoring the bad. Maybe there is a way to be genuine and be an optimist? Well the truth is there is. Let’s look at how that can be done:
- Embrace “realistic optimism”- or the idea that you do have to pay attention to the negative information that is relevant to the problems you face, but choose not to stay focused on the negative.
- Affirm the co-existence of both positive and negative emotions. Confront the bad while still seeing the good!
- Alter the way you interpret things in life. For example, when something bad happens, remember it won’t last forever (usually). When something good happens- give yourself credit if you played a part and feel grateful to those who also contributed.
These three things can help us to be honest with ourselves and our surroundings, while still finding ways to be optimistic. During troubling times that we are in, finding ways to be present while still look forward to the future and finding hope might be just what we need.
If you find that you want to chat with someone about your inability to find hope or see the positive, please reach out. We are here for you.
Citations
Carver, C.S. & Scheier, M.F. (2014). Dispositional optimism. Trends in Cognitive Science, 18 (6), 293-299.
Charney, D. S. & Southwick, S. M. (2018). Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life's Greatest Challenges. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Segovia, F., Moore, J.L., Linnville, S.E., & Hoyt, R.E. (2015). Optimism predicts positive health in repatriated prisoners of war. Psychological Trauma, 7(3), 222-228.