I don’t know about you but the news of the world lately has been getting me down. And it’s so easy to fall into the “what’s the point?” narrative.
Yet I want to believe that things can get better.
And then I heard a story from a wonderful person. They have a big beautiful dream about being closer to family so have taken steps to sell up, find their dream home, and actually start moving.
Except their dream home isn’t available anymore. The sale of their current home, now emptied, has fallen through. There are various other complications happening.
And yet, they want to hold onto their dream.
They said something that really hit home: optimism takes discipline.
Facts.
When everything is going well, it’s easy to be optimistic. In fact, I’d question whether it’s truly optimism. I think it’s more like riding the way of good luck and enjoying the feeling.
To stay the course when the seas are rough. To stay optimistic that things will actually turn out well when you keep running into dead ends… now that takes guts.
And discipline.
What kind of discipline?
To catch ourselves when the negative spiral starts and reset.
To take care of our mind, body, and spirit so that we can handle the knock-backs.
To regularly remind ourselves of the vision and why all this is worth it.
To hold the belief that it will work out – maybe not how you expected, but it will work out.
All that mental discipline to stay in a positive mindset of “whatever happens we can deal with it”.
I’ve never thought about optimism requiring discipline before, but it totally makes sense.
Agree?
This is part of my Thought Piece Series, where I explore topics related to leadership and provide both answers and questions. My intention is to start meaningful conversations that help us move forward. Want to connect? Click here.