Optimism is one of the most effective means of stress management. Optimism allows a person to see the positive side of things. It is an attitude characterized by the belief that everything can be worked out with a positive end result. In the case of stress, an optimistic mind can be able to cope up well with whatever stress situations one experiences in life.
People can have either one of two attitudes in life. One can either be an optimist or a pessimist. Optimists explain positive events as having happened because of them. Pessimists think of it in the opposite way. They have in mind that the negative things that happen in life are their own doing. Optimists see the positive events in their lives as evidence that more positive things will be happening in the future. For pessimists, a negative event will surely lead on to more negative events in the future.
For optimists, negative things that happen are not to be entirely blamed on them where as pessimists usually take the blame on themselves. Optimists think that the negative things happening in their lives are just temporary setbacks while pessimists see the positive things as just temporary occasions that come once in a blue moon. On a more common analogy, optimists see a partially filled glass of water as half full while pessimists usually see it as half empty. The difference between optimists and pessimists can be identified by how they see the positive and the negative things.
In stress management, optimism always wins out. What’s more interesting is that optimism is a trait that can be learned through practice. As a positive thought can do a lot to a stressful mind, conditioning the mind to think only of positive thoughts can sometimes enable it to change perspective subconsciously. It would be a much better deal than to think of the negative all of the tie.
Negative thoughts can bring out the stress easily. And too much stress will always bring the worst in people. The best way to combat the stress and the negative thoughts that come with it is by maintaining a more optimistic attitude. Although for some people it can be a bit difficult to do, optimism actually gets better with practice.
Optimism and a positive attitude offer people a number of certain benefits. Not only will it help one deal better with stress but also with a person’s overall well being. One good reason is that optimists and positive thinkers have been known to live longer than those who see only the negative in life. A good reason for this is that an optimistic mind, always thinking of positive things, deal with less problems and worries.
It is persistent worry and anxiety that seem to bring about such harmful physical conditions like high blood pressure, hypertension, and insomnia. By worrying less, optimists usually have to deal with fewer negative baggages to burden them and are less affected by worry-induced physical conditions. And because of this, optimists live longer and healthier lives.