Recently, I’ve had a couple of discussions about optimism, probably because this word is floating around so much these days that it’s randomly infiltrating my bar talk. For the record, I consider myself to be an optimist, however, I know there is such a thing as too much "bright side" banter.
For example, I remember a high school guidance counselor having sickeningly optimistic posters in her office. You know, the one with cat hanging from a ball of yarn that reads, "Hang in there!" or another that reads, "If you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."
Seriously, hog-tie me if I ever start saying stuff like this.
Timing is important with optimism. Naturally, when a friend tells you she has cancer, you wouldn’t pat her on the shoulder and say, "Don’t worry, be happy!" However, a reasonable amount of optimism is refreshing, especially considering the older I get, the harder it is to find.
People -- including myself -- sometimes become jaded after, oh, 30 or 35 when we realize life is, for most of us, a little less grandiose than we thought it might be.
I try to teach optimism to my kids, but like most things, it has to be modeled. Words alone are not enough, even though saying positive things is ideal if they are said with sincerity.
It’s annoying, for example, when Facebook "friends" continuously post negative status updates, yet nobody wants to read, "Molly is smelling the roses, making lemonade from lemons, practicing positive internal dialogue and sipping from a half-full glass."
I suggest more optimism in '09, but indeed, there’s a point when it becomes flat-out annoying. Optimists beware.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
