Optimism

Jessica Duncan - 8th grade (first place entry in the Optimist Club oratory club contest):

'Positive things happen to positive people.' Quoted from Sarah Beeny. Likewise, a teacher of mine said, "A positive mindset leads to a positive result."

A perfect example of these quotes is studying for a test. When I study for a test, the pressure to do well can be, and most often is, excruciating. So much is riding on my doing well on this one test. If I don't do well, my entire grade for that subject drops, often to the point where it is hard to raise it back up before the end of the quarter. I have often found that when I tell myself that I am running out of time, the material is too much for me to handle, and that I'll never be able to memorize it all in time for the test I most often find myself giving up before I've given myself the chance to even try. Then the day of the test comes, and I am stumped on most every question. I can't even remember the answers to questions that I already knew. I can't concentrate on my test. My mind wanders back to what I had been doing instead of studying. I feel once again the frustration of not remembering what I have already learned. Then I start to play the 'what if' and 'if I only had' games. What if I was super smart like some of my other classmates? If only I had a photographic memory, then I would have no problems at all. What if I had the power to read minds, then I could read the mind of the smartest person in my class, and get all the right answers. It's hard to be positive after being negative for such a long time.

However, when I study, and I tell myself that the material is simple and that I can do well on the test, I find that I more easily remember the harder material. I find that it takes me a matter of minutes to memorize most of my note cards. I feel elated. I feel empowered. I no longer need a photographic memory, I don't need the power to read minds, and I don't need to be the smartest person in my grade. I am already equipped with a more powerful tool: positivity.

The day of the test, I wake up well rested and feeling like I could soar. I sit down at my desk, calmly waiting as my teacher passes out the tests. Others are fretting, trying to fit in a couple last minutes of studying, and I feel empathy towards them, knowing exactly how they feel. The story is always the same. I get my test, I calmly write my name, I look at the first question, and I'm on my way. Nothing distracts me. I am completely engrossed in my test and nothing can tear away my focus. I feel as though, with every question I know and answer, my spirit is lifted from my seat. Time seems irrelevant. Nothing else but completing my test seems important. The feeling of euphoria closes upon me as I turn my test in, knowing that I did extremely well. It was all because I was positive that I would do well, that I did.

So optimism is having a positive mindset on life.

Being optimistic helps you be happier in life. If everyone were optimistic, we would all have hope. Where hope is, what you are hoping for eventually comes to pass.

If you want something enough to will it to happen, it will. Through thinking and hoping that something will happen, through working hard to get to that something, you will succeed.
So optimism is hope.

For me such a hopeful experience was when I started Taekwondo. I started when I was seven years old and was in second grade. I began as a white belt, working to achieve orange, then yellow, and so on. It was grueling work. I had class two or three times a week, in which I spent my time conditioning, sparring, and working to memorize my form. After a time, testing would be held at which everyone in the Taekwondo School would perform their form, spar, and occasionally break boards in front of judges and in front of a crowd composed of friends and family of all of the testers. If you passed, you would receive the next belt. If you failed, you would try again at the next testing. I worked very hard, wanting to be like my instructors, and become a black belt. I joined the Leadership Group which performed at schools and other assemblies. I practiced at home. I wished every star and eyelash on getting to that black belt. I thrived in the environment. I was excellent at Taekwondo. It was my forte. My family tried to get into Taekwondo as well, but they eventually dropped out while I kept going. I was so excited that out of all of my family, of which I was the youngest, only I had been able to make it through.
Eventually, I was testing for my black belt. I was so nervous. I executed the form and sparred expertly. At this testing, I needed to break boards to pass. I had to break the boards using various methods: a backwards elbow, a front kick, and a side kick. Out of these three methods, a side kick was my weakness. It happened that I was not able to break it. I nearly broke down in front of everyone as I watched others break their boards and pass.

So it was then, when I got another try during class to break that board with a side kick and pass, with my friends cheering me on from the sidelines that I succeeded and broke that silly board. I was so ecstatic! I had passed! I was now a black belt. It was the hope that I would achieve my black belt that made me so determined, so aggressive. It was because of that hope, that my victory was all the sweeter.

Deepak Chopra said, "Miracles happen every day. Not just in remote country villages or at holy sites halfway across the globe, but here, in our own lives." Achieving that black belt was my miracle. It was my hope, my reason for being who I was.

I believe that optimism is having the strength to have a positive outlook on all things, that hope is at the heart of optimism, and that optimism can be achieved by anyone.