This morning while doing my half jog/half walk on the treadmill at the Y, reading my latest copy of "O" during the only part of the day that is truly "me time," I came across a survey that looked intriguing. "How Optimistic Are You?" it implored. I had to do it.
So making mental additions counting up my answers, here's how I scored: I AM A SUPER-OPTIMIST! Wow! Only ten percent of people, they say, are "super optimists." I thought that was great. I've always been upbeat. In this survey, I was not just a "super optimist" I was an off-the-charts super optimist! My score was really high. Now I'm not one of those people who wakes up smiling every morning. Nor do I see the world as one big "LaLa" land. I think I'm an optimist because I am a realist. I see the world starting anew every single day. So whatever happened yesterday will not be exactly the same today. The world renews itself every sunrise, as do we.
And then I read on. "Research has found that super-optimists tend to be prone to unrealistic expectations. When they're driving, for example, they often believe that they're invulnerable to crashing." This immediately brought out the pessimist in me! The doubter. The superstitious, cautious, reluctant girl inside.
Maybe this is why I sometimes think about driving into headlights. Maybe this is where the thoughts come from that if I went off a cliff I might survive. Maybe this is why I have countless dreams of being chased. But never being caught. Could I be a depressed optimist? Maybe they forgot to add that. I didn't see that category on the Oprah list.
What I found out was that super optimists must, then, be really paradoxical. We think we can do it, so we do it, even if we cannot. We just don't stop to think about all the consequences. How screwy is that?
Hmmm, now that makes me depressingly upbeat. I guess that's par for being an optimist.
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