We are constantly being told to have confidence, to be optimistic, and that if we believe in ourselves, we can do it!  Well, these eye rolling confidence booster clichés are apparently unnecessary, as a recent study proves that 95% of the world’s population is naturally optimistic.

Hmm..now on the surface this everything-is gonna-be-all right mentality may seem like a positive thing, but where do we draw the line between confidence and cockiness? Between optimism and blind ignorance?

I’m totally a glass-is-half-full sorta girl, but I often wonder if all of that positivity is setting me up for major failure down the road. Is this optimism just setting us up for disaster and disappointment?  For goals that will never be reached and outcomes that are totally impossible?

Is it possible to be optimistic and realistic? What do you think?

This morning I ripped my tights, missed my train, got sneezed on, and forgot my wallet, which inevitably forced me to put my bagel back and face the day hungry, grumpy and in constant fear of the next gift from this bad day.

Oh and did I mention that this was all before 9 am?

Great start the the weekend right? I guess this technically makes me a pessimistic, glass half empty, gray lining kind of gal. Unfortunately, I just learned this also means I will not live as long as my happy, shiny counterpart – the optimist.

Figures.

Don’t believe me? Check out the report in Time where 100,000 women over the age of 50 were asked to respond to a questionnaire that measured optimism. Participants were asked if they agreed with statements like, “In uncertain times, I expect the worst” (put a check next to the “agreed” column please). Eight years later, researchers studied the women’s death rates and found that those who were found to be optimistic were 14 times more likely to be alive than pessimists.

Ok, so maybe my outlook on life is killing me, but it’s hard not to expect the worst in these troubled economic times. Who knows where we’ll be or what we can expect tomorrow? And don’t even get me started on the world ending in 2012. Read More »

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