How can you become more optimistic

Hello friends!! I hope you all are having a great day! 🙂

Last week we talked about optimism. Also about the ‘ABCDE’ model of debunking pessimistic thoughts and to increase optimism.

In this post I’d like to share a example of how it is done.

You can practice this for any event that causes too many negative thoughts.

There’s a simple example –

Adversity – Someone posted a negative hateful comment on my YouTube video.

Beliefs – I don’t think I have it in me to continue making videos. If my audience is not liking what I post why should I go on? I am terrible at this! What did I thought of myself while starting?! I suck at this. Did I say something wrong? What was my fault?

Consequences – I felt a mixture of anger and sadness. I was not able to concentrate on other activities today. I was thinking about it in the back of my mind.

Disputation – That was awful! I can understand if someone doesn’t like the video but there’s no need to be so rude and mean. I am just starting out. I need to be hopeful and keep working. I realise that I am analysing myself based on just one comment, when so many people have thanked me for sharing these videos! Yeah, I need to be realistic. One negative comment doesn’t mean nobody likes my videos. I’ve made great friends through YouTube. I cannot quit. I want to keep going. I need to understand that I cannot please everyone in the whole world. There are going to be people who may not like my videos and at the same time there will also be people who truly love what I share. I’ll work harder now and try to make better videos. I won’t give up. Next time onwards I’ll try to be more open to new perspectives without being self judgemental.

Energization – I felt much better. I was relaxed now. I listened music for a while and went back to my daily chores. Next day I found myself thinking about the next video topic and content!

What do you think? Will this help you? Give it a try!

Here’s another exercise you can try –

Your best possible selves

This exercise was developed by Laura King. A professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

In this exercise you have to spend twenty minutes once every week (or every month as you feel comfortable) visualising Your Best Possible Self in multiple domains life.

Imagine yourself in next 2, 5 or 10 years. Imagine how would your life be, how you want it to be. Visualise what will you have, what will your life look like in the next few years.

How would your life be if your dreams were fulfilled?

Think about your goals in upcoming years.

Write them down on paper.

My advice – Make sure you keep the focus on yourself. How will you be, don’t focus too much on what will you have or how others will be. Focus on how you will grow as a person.

Now think about how you can work on achieving these goals. What simple steps you can take today to make them come true in the future?

What do you want most in your life? Write it down.

This can help you have insight into what makes you happy, what do you want to achieve in the next few years.

It will give you a purpose, when you’re feeling low, you have something, some goal to look up to.

You will also be able to understand that these goals are achievable and you can start right now to make them come true.

You will tend to feel more optimistic about your future.

Good luck! 🙂