Join the Ranks of the Optimists

Take Pen to Paper: Edition 6

I recently read Hannah Ritchie’s article “An End to Doomerism”.

It gave me a new attitude about my positive approach to my social media presence. Or rather, my optimistic approach to being positive on social media.

Ritchie explains the difference between optimism and pessimism. My big takeaway from the article? Optimists make progress. They willingly take on the necessary trial and error process to make progress.

Optimists see problems as solvable challenges. They believe an answer exists.

Writers, artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, and educators (to name a few) are optimists.

Ritchie explains how optimists recognize the progress that’s been made and work towards more. 

Sometimes I feel like a small island of optimism. I share greetings and inspiration with pictures of flowers and rabbits. I write about doing good. After reading Ritchie’s article, I felt more justified in sharing my optimism.

We need more optimism. It makes our world better and gives us hope.

I’ve decided I need to be a more visible optimist. I may inspire someone.

Photo by S.G.S Abel

7 Days, 7 Thoughts on Gratitude and Good

1. The picture above was my effort to capture a big spider on its web shiny with dew. As you can see, it is not. But it is a picture of the sun peaking through the trees at the end of my early morning walk.

2. Only an optimist builds on the beach what he knows will be washed away. Check out the beautiful creations at Sculpt the World and the Instagram account.

3. I’m grateful I can change my mindset (and you can too!). If you aren’t naturally an optimist, you can choose to act optimistically. Check out this article at Happify.com.

4. Adults should read children’s literature for their own benefit. I didn’t read A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh in my childhood or to my children. It’s silly with simple plays on words. A great read-aloud for ages 4-8.

5. As you read this, my husband and I are celebrating our dativersary, the anniversary of our first date (43 years). Do you celebrate your dativersary?

6. I am grateful for the feeling of being needed by others.

7. William Goldman’s The Princess Bride (book or movie) is a classic. Westley’s optimism in the fire swamp can’t be denied.

   No, no. We have already succeeded. I mean, what are the three terrors of the Fire Swamp? One, the flame spurt - no problem. There's a popping sound preceding each; we can avoid that. Two, the lightning sand, which you were clever enough to discover what that looks like, so in the future we can avoid that too.

Thank you for reading!

Do something good by sharing your optimism.