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| "Kiss Me, Stupid" by Rosalyn Drexler (1964)This artwork may be protected by copyright. It is posted on the site in accordance with fair use principles. |
Mlodinow claims that "There are few accomplishments, large or small, that don't depend to some degree on the accomplisher believing in him- or herself, and the greatest accomplishments are most likely to rely on that person being not only optimistic but unreasonably optimistic" (216). In other words, unreasonable optimism can be beneficial. Yet in some scenarios unreasonable optimism can clearly be damaging.
Have you--or has someone you know--had either of these experiences?
I have been in both of those scenarios. The first was my junior year of high school at a speech tournament. I had managed to make it to Regionals every year, but never had advanced to State. That year felt different however. My humorous duet partner was my best friend, and we had scoured the web searching for the perfect script: Gary Trotter and He Whose Name We Cannot Say Due to Copyright Infringement (yes, I realize that is a very long name.) We were placing first tournament after tournament, until it came time for Regionals. We were nervous, but nothing could have convinced us otherwise that we wouldn't advance to State. We missed the award ceremony (same day as Prom), but got a phone call later that day that we had placed 2nd. That was most likely one of the greatest achievements for me, because we had strived so hard to make it there.
ReplyDeleteAs for the latter situation, this year I convinced one of my friends to go to Prom with me... in duct tape. I'm obsessed with it, and really wanted to try for the Stuck at Prom scholarship. We worked on it for months and when Prom finally came around we were totally set. We were accepted as applicants for the scholarship and waited anxiously for the day they announced the top 10. We looked at the other competitors and had ourselves convinced there was no way that we couldn't make it. However, we didn't make it. We didn't even make Honorable Mention. It was a bombshell for us because we had been so optimistic that we could win. Even now I'll look at the winners and wonder why we didn't advance, but everything happens for a reason right?
My senior year, I worked very hard on my piano pieces for the annual OFMC Festival in the spring. The year before, I had won districts and placed 3rd at the state level. I had improved so much since that year and put in all the hard work I could so I would have a chance at winning state. There was no doubt in my mind nor my teacher's mind that I couldn't win district. I played the best I had ever played those pieces, and didn't even make it to the qualifying round at district. I was so confused and disappointed. I put a positive in the situation by being proud of how well I had played and accepting the outcome even though it wasn't what I had hoped for.
ReplyDeleteI would say that on a regular basis, more often than not, I am overly optimistic. I always look for the positive in a situation. If there's not a positive, I look for a way to make one. Life is so much more enjoyable when you are optimistic. I believe that's why we as humans tend to be unreasonably optimistic.
Ashlyn Angel
Being too pessimistic and too optimistic obviously can result in disappointment or failure either way one goes. As humans we seem to go to one extreme or the other. Some are too critical of themselves as well as the people and situations around them; others seem to have impossible optimism and a happy-go-lucky spirit at all times while the rest of us just stare. I find it's very hard to find a happy medium between the two.
ReplyDeleteIn high school, I heard my teachers lecture a lot about how college is very different than what we were doing: the classes are much harder, the professors are meaner, and it would not be easy. Now their motives were to warn us and hopefully prepare us for that coming challenge, ever looming it seemed. I also think they were trying to make us realize that getting good grades is actually easier than we make it, if we just put in more effort. On hard days for teachers when a class is being lazy or roudy is when they gave these daunting lectures; they wanted us to do more than what we were, almost scaring us into it. Now my teachers, parents, and friends all seemed to think I was quite intelligent, book smart. I however didn’t agree as much. I believed that high school was easy enough, as long as you give at least some effort: pay attention in class, do your homework, review for tests – the simple, basic things. Anyone could easily make good grades; a lot of kids just didn't care. But I told myself college was actually going to be hard and I would not be able to make the grades I was making now – and I really got myself to believe that. I set myself up for failure. I made myself believe it was impossible to do as well as I had in high school, and with that in the back of my mind I didn’t try and study as hard as I should have my first year of college. I did well, but I could have done better.
I don’t think humans should ride the fence on this one; we need to fall a little more to the side of overly optimistic. Of course we need to be realistic and knowledgeable and wise and use commonsense, but being pessimistic and complaining will do no one any good. No matter how cliché, we need to do a lot better job at believing in ourselves.
-Elizabeth Keck