I’m an optimist, and I’ll tell you why…

[dougstrum]

There are bright spots in life. New guitar strings. Electric starters on Harleys. Jolly Ranchers.

That's all I got right now.

That's a mighty tenuous hook to hang your optimism on~

New strings are nice, but pretty soon you're gonna have to replace them.

Electric starters, add weight to the bike and it's something else to go wrong.

Jolly Ranchers, mmm good while they last

 

[3fngrs]

That's a mighty tenuous hook to hang your optimism on~

New strings are nice, but pretty soon you're gonna have to replace them.

Electric starters, add weight to the bike and it's something else to go wrong.

Jolly Ranchers, mmm good while they last

I have a pretty tenuous grasp on most things.

Especially sanity.

 

[NoTeleBob]

I'm not optimistic about being an optimist.

 

[ChicknPickn]

A friend told me recently, All the regrets in the world cannot change the past; all the anxiety cannot change the future. But a moment of gratitude can change the present.

 

[Mjark]

Accepting life's events as they comes is the only way to live a comfortable life. While most things we worry about never happen its not always easy to believe that good must triumph over evil for instance. I think I'm more a pragmatist.

 

[BigDaddyLH]

I'm a cautious optimist. This book is recommended.

 

[mad dog]

I'm more of a pessimist. But an optimistic pessimist, if that makes any sense. In that, I'm always wracked with worry and concern. And I have a few areas in which worry is justified. But I am learning to balance that with acceptance, and the sense of how truly lucky I am in various ways. This getting older thing does have an upside.

 

[Fiesta Red]

I’m a realistic optimist.

I look for (and expect) the good, but I’m aware that bad things can happen.

My wife is a world-class worrier. If worrying were an Olympic sport, she’d win gold in both the winter and summer games.

 

[tubedude]

I’ve had this weird relationship with optimism, pessimism, and reality. Since I was about 18 or 19, my outlook on the state of the world, the environment, our experiment in self-government, etc, has gotten worse and worse and worse in a pretty much linear fashion, year by year. Yet over that same time, my personal life has gotten better and better and better in a similarly linear fashion, year by year.

I’ve only got one grandchild so far, and her for only a little over a year, but she’s the little apple off my eye. I’ve got a wife who’s been my best friend and partner since shortly after the day I met her and who I like and love more today than I ever have. I’ve got two daughters who were basically good kids, but with the usual teenage issues growing up, who have turned into the most delightful young women I could ever hope for - smart, kind, funny - good people and great company. They’ve both married great guys - when they were little I used to think about all the young man ass I was gonna have to kick when they came sniffing around my daughters, but both of these men are great guys, like sons I never had. Couldn’t want more for either of them. And professionally / financially, we’ve done well enough to be secure, but not so well that the $$ became more important to us than it should have. Oh, and we’re all reasonably healthy in age appropriate ways…

I still think the world is going to hell, more now than ever, and I worry deeply about what the future holds for my daughters and my grandchild(ren). But my life, in my early 60s, couldn’t have been better. So, call that what you will. I’ve always sort of considered myself a pessimist, but experience has sort of turned me halfway towards optimism. Regardless of terms, reality has been great for me. So far. That’ll just have to do.

-Ray

Congrats on a well lived life. This mirrors my experience almost exactly. With a few more health issues related to a decade in the military, and having to kick some young man ass in the one daughter's bad boy phase. Five grands and one on the way is one of the rewards of life.
Having had a good life I wish the same for the next generations. Hopefully this will be possible for many inspite of the shift in culture.
My philosophy is hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

 

[black_doug]

It’s morning, the sun is shining, and I am blessed with the mercy of a new day. While I’m reading what others have to say here, and while I’m waking up I’ll let this Texan express how I feel.

 

[pixeljammer]

I'm a local optimist and a global pessimist.
I think that most individual people are pretty good most of the time, but groups of people tend toward the horrible.
If you read history and look at the way the world works, it's hard to have any real long-term hope, as we keep doing awful things to each other, even in the so-called "progressive" places.
I don't think we'll make it as a species, and I'm not even a little bit upset about that; on the way to our inevitable doom, we should be as good as we can be to those whose lives we engage with, and not worry too much about the big picture, since our affect on that is minuscule and pointless.

 

[Lou Tencodpees]

Lately my acts of optimism make me feel a bit like Guido Orefice. I try, I really try. The smaller I make my world the better I succeed.

 

[boris bubbanov]

I don't know which pigeonhole I belong in.

What I do know is, Larry is part of why this place is classy. Thanks!

 

[JL_LI]

Optimists tend to be happier. Pessimists tend to be right more often than not. Realists tend to be right more often then either but there are still times I’d love to be wrong.

 

[LesTele]

Well, it largely has to do with my faith, and of course it’s against the rules to tell you about that here. But life experience is a very large part of my optimistic outlook, which my faith/worldview interprets as reasons for keeping on the sunny side of life. And I can tell you about those.

Regarding my life experiences, let me set your mind at ease right up front. I won’t go into great detail here, but I could tell you stories all day long. Some of them would even be true.

My life has of course had its share of pain. I’ve made mistakes that have caused me and/or my loved ones pain. At times I’ve been at odds with family members. I’ve suffered financial reversals and catastrophic events such as a house fire. I’ve had a diagnosis of diabetes, a heart attack and subsequent quadruple bypass surgery. I’ve suffered painful losses of family, my father in 1989 at age 57, most recently my younger brother Buddy in September of last year, at age 61.

But in all of those painful categories, good has come out of those experiences. My mistakes, rather than define me, have instructed me. The disagreements and conflict with family have been mostly resolved, and where they haven’t been/can’t be, there is still love. We’ve come through those financial hard times. We were able to rebuild after the fire. And though some things were lost in our house fire, many remained. All five of my guitars at the time were saved by the firefighters. I’ve even had telecaster style guitars made from lumber salvaged from our house fire, my “Firecasters.” They are my object lessons for optimism.

The diabetes/cardiac issues presented me with the challenge to own up to my poor decisions regarding diet and exercise, and I have since reversed my Type II diabetes through diet and exercise alone. I’ve been taken off all medications.

And though I miss my father and now my younger brother, their memory endures, and the good relationships we had remain with me. And I have good kids and 19 grandchildren, so there’s love and hope for the future.

And last but most certainly not least, my wife and I will celebrate 49 years of wedded bliss next month. Well, that’s 49 years of bliss from my perspective. You’d have to ask her how many years have been blissful for her.

So while at times I see things that disappoint or even grieve me, yeah, I’m an optimist. Who’s with me?

Love it. Thanks for sharing!