SMART THINKING

Many of us might have found 2020 a difficult year to be optimistic, but it’s vital for our mental and physical wellbeing.

Having optimism is vital for our mental and physical wellbeing.

Winston Churchill once said, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Optimism is not wishful thinking, but a hopefulness and confidence about the future. Optimism isn’t about putting a positive spin on everything either. Psychologist Martin Seligman explains that, “The basis of optimism does not lie in positive phrases or images of victory, but in the way you think about causes.” Optimism is about confidence that we can change or control elements of our lives such as exam results, work performance, and our environment in general. In contrast, pessimists tend to feel helpless about changing their lives.

Researchers from Michigan State University have just completed the largest study of its kind to determine how major life events affect how optimistic people are about the future. The study, published in the Journal of Research in Personality, surveyed 75,000 people between the ages of 16 and 101 to measure optimism and their outlook about the future. The researchers looked at life events such as marriage, divorce, a new job, retirement, changes in health and loss of a partner, a parent or a child. “Counterintuitively – and most surprising – we found that really hard things like deaths and divorce really didn’t change a person’s outlook to the future,” lead author, Assistant Professor William Chopik said. “This shows that a lot of people likely subscribe to the ‘life is short’ mantra and realise they should focus on things that make them happy and maintain emotional balance.”

Another recent study by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found optimistic people tend to sleep better and live longer. More than 3,500 people aged between 32 and 51 were included in the study sample. “Optimists are more likely to engage in active problem-focused coping and to interpret stressful events in more positive ways, reducing worry and ruminative thoughts when they’re falling asleep and throughout their sleep cycle,” said lead researcher Rosalba Hernandez, a professor of social work at the university.

The good news is that optimism can be learnt by tackling cognitive distortions. This approach was originally created by psychologist Dr Albert Ellis and then adapted by Dr Seligman and published in his book, Learned Optimism. In the book, Seligman talks about tackling the 3Ps:

• Personalisation If something bad happens, a pessimist will attribute it to internal factors. They’ll see that failure or setback as something that’s their fault, personalising the outcome. Optimists externalise instead; they feel they aren’t to blame so that next time may be better.

• Pervasiveness Pessimists make universal statements about their lives when something goes badly, while optimists make specific statements. For example a pessimist may think, “I absolutely bombed in that job interview. I’m terrible at interviews, I will never get a job.” An optimist might think, “I did my best in that interview but that wasn’t the right job for me, the next one may be better.”

• Permanence is about whether we view a negative situation as fleeting, or as lasting and unchangeable. For example, a pessimist will believe, “I’ll always be bad at maths, it’s just who I am.” A positive spin sounds more like: “I didn’t do well in my maths test because I was unprepared, but I’ll be more prepared next time.”