The Importance Of Optimism In Your Life | What Are Its Benefits

“Think positive” and “be optimistic” – we’ve all heard these words before when we are going through tough times but have you ever wondered why thinking positive and being optimistic is important for us or how it can help us better our mental and physical health?

To be honest, for a while, I too thought that why do I have to think positively and be optimistic when the world around me was crushing me and my spirit. After some time, when I was in therapy, my therapist told me that I need to look for a positive in a negative situation if I truly want to fight and win against my problems.

The “forced optimism” that I learned in therapy helped me change my mindset and look at the world and my problems in a new and better light.

Also Read: Learned Optimism: Martin Seligman’s Way To A Positive Life

Before I tell you what is the importance of optimism in your life, let’s take a brief look at what is optimism.

What Is Optimism?

Optimism is a mental state which can be identified as hope, confidence, and positivity in your future. Optimists are people who expect good things to happen and who always look at the bright side of things, unlike pessimistic people who always look for unhappy outcomes in their future.

Being optimistic can have its benefits to both your mental health as well as physical health. Having an optimistic outlook in life can help you lower stress, improve immunity, and build resilience.

Optimism teaches you to look at hardships as opportunities and once you look at your problems as learning tools, you find yourself less stressed and happier.

Now, let’s look at how optimism can benefit us:

Why is Optimism Important In Your Life

Our minds are powerful – they can make us or break us. When we water our minds with healthy and positive thinking, we thrive in our personal and professional life but when we let it go long without nourishing them, we stop being happy and we constantly put ourselves down.

There are many types of research done to understand the effectiveness and impact optimism has on a person’s life. Some of the benefits of optimism can have on someone are:

1. Better Health

Many studies show that optimistic people are more likely to have better physical health than pessimists. Optimism can help you decrease the risk of heart disease by 50%. Having an optimistic mind-set can also help you fight many health problems including relapses.

2. Better Resilience

Optimists don’t like to give up when faced with a problem. Optimism can help you get up and fight to reach your goals, regardless of your obstacles and challenges. When faced with a setback, optimistic people will look at the ways the situation can change in their favour.

“Optimism and hope relate to how we think and feel about the future. If we do believe that things will work out for the best, all the setbacks become easier to deal with,” – Michael J. Fox

3. Better Emotional Health

In some researches, it was found that cognitive therapy or therapy that includes reframing a person’s thought process, optimism can be beneficial in treating depression. Depression often accompanies negative and pessimistic thinking. Learning optimism in therapy can help bring a sense of confidence in dealing with future despair and hopelessness.

Also Read: Natural Remedies For Depression: How Effective Are They?

3. Lesser Stress

Optimistic people are less stressed because they see minor problems either as opportunities or as minor setbacks that can be easily overcome. Pessimistic people, on the other hand, focus on a problem rather than look for ways to overcome it. Optimistic people know that they are in control of their stressors and are more proactive with managing their stress, hence they are less stressed than pessimistic people.

4. Better Performance

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope,” – Helen Keller

Optimism can help you persist in the face of challenges. Optimistic people are hopeful and that hope helps them move forward with their goals and stay committed to them. Hope and optimism go hand in hand, if you lose hope you lose the ability to stay optimistic and vice versa.

To maintain a professional and personal life, it is incredibly important to stay positive.

Also Read: Ways to Stay Optimistic and Lead a Happy Life

Be the person who looks at the glass half full. Appreciate the little things in your life and approach your problems with a smile and a take-charge attitude. Confidence and optimism are the best tools when it comes to changing your outlook on life.

The way you look at things in life can affect the way you live. When you surround yourself with a positive attitude and optimistic view, it can help you understand that no matter how big your problem looks like, in the end, it is just a small and easily manageable one.

Keeping an optimistic mind-set can help you boost happiness and confidence and it can help you stay resilient in the face of your challenges. The importance of optimism in your life should not be ignored. It is the one thing that can help you better your mental, emotional, and physical wellness.

Winston Churchill once rightly said, “Optimists see opportunities in every difficulty”

No matter what setbacks you face, it is important to understand that having an optimistic mindset can help you recover from those setbacks.

“Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you.” – Mary Lou Retton

Stay positive, stay happy!