For years I have been searching for a better definition of the word optimist. I consider myself a confident and hopeful person, yet find I can be seen as naive or easily pushed around. Good-natured, yes, but certainly not timid. I give people the benefit of the doubt and never stand on the side lines waiting for life to happen to me.

While searching for an uplifting quote about energy, I found a lovely excerpt from Vera Nazarian’s, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration which embodies my idea of being a buoyant soul, free from the embarrassment of skipping through life looking on the bright side.

“People who are too optimistic seem annoying. This is an unfortunate misinterpretation of what an optimist really is.

An optimist is neither naive, nor blind to the facts, nor in denial of grim reality. An optimist believes in the optimal usage of all options available, no matter how limited. As such, an optimist always sees the big picture. How else to keep track of all that’s out there? An optimist is simply a proactive realist.

An idealist focuses only on the best aspects of all things (sometimes in detriment to reality); an optimist strives to find an effective solution. A pessimist sees limited or no choices in dark times; an optimist makes choices.

When bobbing for apples, an idealist endlessly reaches for the best apple, a pessimist settles for the first one within reach, while an optimist drains the barrel, fishes out all the apples and makes pie.

Annoying? Yes. But, oh-so tasty!”
― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration