Look on the bright side whenever possible.What children and young people see and hear really influences the way they think. Practice thinking optimistically yourself.How to help children and young people develop optimism They make plans to help them cope and ask others for help. But they know they can cope with difficult events and that they will pass. Optimistic people know that life is not always rosy. If we are realistically optimistic, we make a realistic assessment of risks and our abilities, and we take responsibility for our own actions. For example, it would not be safe for you to jump into deep water and just be optimistic that you could swim, if you’d never actually learned to swim! People who are not realistically optimistic may not have realistic expectations about the possibility of bad things happening and may be caught unprepared when they do. It is important to note that optimism needs to be realistic. "I passed that exam, so it must have been really easy." When something goes right for them, they tend to think it’s just a fluke or to do with someone else rather than them, for example:.They also over-generalise, and see the negative event as affecting all aspects of life, for example:."I'm never going to be able to do well in exams." They tend to think that the situation will last forever, for example: When things go wrong, this adds more evidence to their generally negative view of the world. "I passed that exam because I always try my best and therefore I tend to do well in exams." When something goes well for them, this just adds more evidence to their permanent bright view of the world and their abilities, for example:."I wish I wasn’t being bullied, but my schoolwork is good and I have some good friends in my swimming club." The thing that’s going wrong is recognised as only being about one part of their life - it doesn’t affect other areas, for example:."I didn’t pass the exam because I didn’t study hard enough for that one - I’ll be able to pass it next time." When things go wrong, they see it as temporary - they will brush it off as unimportant and will tell themselves it was due to something specific and won’t have a long-lasting effect, for example:.Sometimes it will take them quite a long time to recover from a setback.Ĭhildren and young people who are generally optimistic or pessimistic have different ways of explaining the events of their lives to themselves - they talk to themselves in different ways: Optimistic view They may have a tendency to give up when things get difficult and to feel they can’t cope. People who have a generally pessimistic outlook, on the other hand, are more likely to become depressed or anxious, achieve less than their potential and have a higher risk of health problems. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence. Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. In other words, having an optimistic outlook helps you to flourish. They also tend to have good relationships and good health. Research shows that people who have a generally optimistic outlook will persevere when in difficulty, are high achievers, are highly motivated, have positive moods and have a greater sense of control over their lives. Optimism is a skill that children and young people can learn and the more optimism is practised, the more of a habit it becomes. You can help children and young people become more optimistic by the way you act yourself and by the way you encourage and interact with them. By being more aware of your thoughts and by attempting to be more realistic with yourself about why negative things happened to you, you can become more optimistic. Many people tend to over-exaggerate negative aspects of themselves, leading to pessimistic thinking. You may have a tendency to be more optimistic or more pessimistic - but these ways of thinking are not fixed. Optimism and pessimism are simply different habits of thinking that we learn when we are young.Ī pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, but an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. It means expecting things not to be well or to go well for you. It is also about believing that you can help bring about positive change in your life and in the world.Īs a comparison, being pessimistic is seeing things in a negative light or ‘seeing the glass as half empty’. An optimistic outlook is about expecting things to be well and to go well for you. Being optimistic is looking on the bright side of life or ‘seeing the glass as half full’.
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