Some people may refer to optimism as being hard or a waste of time, but the people that think this way do not recognize the effects that optimism has on physical and psychological health. When I try to describe an optimistic person, I think of a successful person with a happy personality and a positive outlook on life.If an individual has a negative outlook on life or always thinks or expects the worst possible outcomes in every situation, they are generally referred to as pessimists. According to my textbook, optimists seem to cope better with stressful events and even live longer than pessimists (Bolt, M.
2004). In my opinion, being an optimistic person is healthier when it comes to physical well-being as well as psychological well-being and seems to be well worth it in the end.According to the textbook, when compared to pessimists, optimists make fewer visits to the doctor, receive better ratings of general health from their physicians, have stronger immune system functioning, and show faster rehabilitation from major surgery (Bolt, M. 2004). With this said, an optimistic lifestyle should at least be attempted. Optimism can affect blood pressure, heart disease, even cardiac patients.
An article in the Harvard Men’s Health Watch (Vol. 12, Issue 10) states, “Optimism appears to protect the heart and circulation—and it’s heartening to learn that it can have similar benefits for overall health. Sometimes it can be difficult for a pessimistic individual to transition to an optimist.According to Doug Brown, a columnist for the Fort Worth Business Press (Vol. 15, Issue 48), once you take the initiative to changing your behavior, you will thrive off the positive feedback received by others, which in turn breeds more positive actions on your part.
An optimistic lifestyle can be practiced and eventually learned. Being a pessimist, having a negative outlook on life and always looking for the worst possible outcomes in every situation, you gather more stress, depression, and loneliness.Although optimism is proven to have benefits on physical and psychological well-being, you may still want to put a limit on how optimistic you want to be. You do not want to be so optimistic that when something doesn’t turn out with the best possible outcome, you end up underestimating the risk and not be prepared with a back-up plan.
You want to give yourself the benefit of the doubt, see your current obstacles as an easy challenge and look to the future with expectancy of the best possible outcome. ?
