Will you join me in being optimistic?

I can remember a time, not that many years ago, when I used to be bored with my life… It seemed flat. Devoid of any extremes in emotion. Mundane.

I can’t put my finger on why I felt this way. Nothing was wrong! I wasn’t depressed. I guess I was just restless.
I wanted more from life. I wanted to really LIVE. To FEEL something.
But I didn’t really know what that meant either. I just knew I wanted it.

Pffft.
Oh how times have changed…
As the old saying goes “be careful what you wish for!”
Because I will certainly never look back on 2015 and say it was a boring year.
Nope, 2015 instead was “the year of the emotional extremes.”
Oh I felt something. I felt it allllllllll.
I’ve had the biggest lows of my life, and the biggest highs of my life, all rolled into one short year.
I learned what it is to cope with grief and overcome it. Over and over again.
We fit more craziness, and deaths of loved ones into this year than I had for the last 10 years combined.
I felt like I’d grown up into a proper adult.

But despite the fact this year has tested me to my limits, there’s nothing I would change about how I coped. The bad times show you how wonderful the good times are. 2015 has shown me how short life is, and what is important to me; my family, my friends and everyone’s health.
I have come out the other side intact. Excited. And the most content I can remember being in a long time.

The bad times also show you what you’re made of. I feel like the mark of a person’s character is shown when the going gets tough, and I showed myself what I was capable of this year. Several of the qualities in myself that I never thought I had were optimism, persistence, forgiveness and patience. I’ve always wanted to be those things, but never really thought I had them in me. But I proved to myself that they are a choice. I do have all of those things. Not just have them, but choose to have them in abundance. And when you have an abundance of optimism, love, patience and forgiveness, nothing can defeat you… You can go through the worst, still come out smiling and feeling like the most blessed person alive.
That’s how I truly feel –
I am blessed. Blessed beyond belief!

* * *

I happened to be googling a definition a few weeks ago. I can’t remember what the word was now, but as a result of that search I noticed that they had a word of the day on the site. It had been my birthday a few days prior, so I decided to look back a few days and see what the word of the day for my birthday was. The word of the day for my birthday was “panglossian.”
Hmm I thought – never heard of that odd word. I wonder what that means? Well, it means:

I had to laugh – that’s me to a tee – always the optimist. Always believing the best in people.
It’s something people comment on to me regularly – they call me an idealist. Almost in a way that suggests criticism or insanity. So it really was a relevant word to have on my birthday.

Do you know what though? Call me crazy all you like, but I’m not going to change.
If I become bitter, and spend time dwelling on the shit that other people (or the universe) try to deal, I’m the only loser in that situation.
If I start living in fear, because I don’t want to go through any of it, again, I’m the only loser.

Being an optimist, doesn’t mean being a pushover. It also doesn’t mean accepting everything that comes your way at face value, and not doing anything within your means to make it better. It means having the courage, and the strength, to keep believing and acting for the best outcome, even in the darkest of times.

So, I’ll never apologise for being an optimist.
I’ll never apologise for treating people better than I’m told they deserve.
{Who gets to decide what people ‘deserve’ in the first place?! Not me.}
And I’ll never stop believing for the best outcome for my life, and the lives of those I love.

I will continue to believe for the best outcomes, work towards the best outcomes, and work to achieve my personal best in all situations, regardless of how others around me are choosing to behave.

2016 better watch out, because I believe it will be the best year of my life!
I’m going to continue to believe in the best for my marriage, my children, my career, for the health of those I care about.
I will continue to be an optimist, for, to be an optimist is to have hope.
And what is life without hope?
Not any life I want, that’s for sure!

I have a pretty darn amazing life.
I hope you believe you do too.

Will you choose to be optimistic along with me?

Perhaps we can work on changing the world together, one act of kindness, and attitude of optimism at a time.