While wildfires are ravaging L.A and right-wing internet personalities are making terrifying waves, it may feel like optimism is the most impossible emotion to find in these times.
However, optimism and hope are forces for good, and it turns out, can actually benefit both your physical and mental health, too.
Speaking to Futurity, lawyer Scott L Rogers says: “Optimism shapes how individuals interpret situations, often reducing their perceived stressfulness.
“Moreover, when faced with a stressful situation, optimism can help navigate it more effectively, leading to better outcomes that enhance emotional well-being.”
He adds: “Research suggests that approaching life’s events with a more optimistic outlook can enhance physical health, partly due to the release of hormones and neurotransmitters that improve mood and provide protective effects on the body.
“Additionally, positive emotions associated with optimism may boost the immune system, making the body more resistant to infections, reducing the risk of chronic diseases, and offering protection against anxiety and depression.”
So, how do we become more optimistic?
Dr Ricardo Twumasi, lecturer in organisational psychiatry and psychology at King’s College London spoke with The i Paper about optimism and said: “I would generally define optimism as, in a situation where a positive and negative outcome are both likely, to expect the favourable outcome. There’s still a groundedness and rationality to it. You can be optimistic but pragmatic.”
So, optimism is less blind faith and more believing that the good thing that’s posisble to happen, will happen. If it’s just as likely as the bad possibility, where’s the harm in looking on the bright side?
He recommends setting small, practical goals for yourself and acknowledging when you’ve achieved them.
He said: “Changing to the point that you think about life in a more positive way is a big change, but it happens behaviourally on a really small level, and all those small behaviours build up into the way we interact with the world.”
Make tiny changes it is.