Optimism is a trait that each of us should have, given its importance as a human personality. Although it is often ignored or taken lightly, optimism helps people to see opportunity during difficulties. By definition, optimism implies reacting to problems with a great sense of confidence and high personal ability. Winston Churchill’s said that a pessimist sees great difficulties in all opportunities, while an optimist is able to see opportunity in every difficulty (Scheier and Carver 1082). Recently, studies have tried to understand the impacts of optimism in both animal models and humans.
Most empirical research studies demonstrate that optimism has multiple advantages and impacts on humans. For instance, it improves immunity, prevent and halt the progression of certain chronic diseases, and help individuals cope with shocks and traumas. Closely associated with optimism is gratitude, which has also been shown to have such impacts as happiness, reduction of stress and depression, and improved social integration of people (Scheier and Carver 1082). The antonym of optimism is pessimism, which is closely associated with doubting and loss of hope. People with a high level of pessimism tend to score low on optimism. In turn, they achieve minimally, given that they do not have the ‘high spirits’ a characteristic associated with optimism. Consequently, it is arguable that optimism is a trait that we should all try to achieve, despite our personality differences, as a means of improving our health, relationships, and ability to tackle problems and difficulties in everyday life.
Normally, people do not pay much attention to what optimism entails. Indeed, few people take time to think about being optimistic in their daily activities. Rather, the common human behavior is to lose confidence or freak out when faced with difficult situations. Instead of reacting to problems with a sense of confidence and ability, we tend to develop hopelessness as we believe that we will eventually lose or fail to fight to the end (Scheier and Carver 1082). In essence, humans assume behavior that portrays the opposite of optimism. Therefore, people should be made aware of the importance of being optimistic at all times and the physiological, cognitive, and social benefits of optimism.
At this juncture, it is necessary to consider some of the proven benefits and impacts of optimism that people should be taught. Optimistic people tend to develop the belief that negative events are transient, manageable, and limited in their scope. Such people do not try to evade every aspect of a difficult situation. Optimism exists on a continuum, just like many other psychological characteristics and states common in humans (Gupta and Sagar 509). People who have low optimism scores can change and raise their levels depending 0n the prevailing situation. Those at the higher end of the optimism spectrum are optimists, while those on the lower end tend to be pessimists.
One of the major themes that appear in most of the recent studies about optimism that I have seen relate to its health impacts. Researchers have examined the various health benefits of optimism. Some researchers have found that every point increase in an individual’s optimism score decreases the risk of early death. It was found that people with chronic diseases and those at risk of sudden death, such as smokers, reduce their chances of dying by a significant margin when their confidence levels increase on the optimism scale (Biber et al. 1948). Such studies indicate that personality and psychological characteristics, as shown by the level of optimism, can play a significant role in protecting people from early and sudden death. In essence, optimism and the related characteristics such as confidence and hopefulness produce protective effect to people at risk of death.
Additional studies have shown that optimism plays an important role in the recovery process, especially during disease and illnesses. In particular, chronic diseases like cancer are widely considered when conducting such studies. In general, the outcomes of these research projects have suggested a strong link between high levels of optimism and minimal experience of distress even when facing potentially life-threating diagnosis and painful treatments. Cancer patients with a superior fighting spirit tend to have better quality of life several months after treatment for various forms of cancer.
Moreover, other studies have shown that high levels of optimism tend to predict minimal disruption of normal life, fatigue, and distress on people undergoing painful treatment of diseases like cancer (Philbin and Perez-Brumer 72). The characteristic, together with confidence and state of high hopes, appear to protect people against an urge to withdraw from certain social activities that are important to the healing process. Those with high levels of optimism are able to be more mindful of their welfare. Moreover, additional studies have shown that such individuals achieve high sleep quality, which is important in the healing process. Other studies have examined the relationship between optimism and the development of chronic diseases. Results from such studies indicate that people with low levels of optimism or those with high scores of pessimisms are more likely to experience such conditions as thickening arteries, which is a risk to cardiac diseases and early death.
Optimism is also associated with an improved immune system. For elderly people, those who receive immunization against such diseases as influenza develop immunity after a few weeks if they have high levels of optimism. Immune responses seem to have a strong link with high levels of confidence and optimism in people living with conditions that attract stigmatization in their societies. For example, some studies have shown that high levels of confidence and optimism in people living with HIV tend to confer higher immune responses than those with high levels of pessimism. It has been established that optimistic people with HIV tend to have low mortality rates and a slow progression of the infection. Such people achieve high levels of helper T cells, which are immune cells in the body that plays a major role in suppressing the progression of HIV (Scheier and Carver 1082). Optimistic people’s immune system increases significantly when faced with life threatening conditions such as development of another condition such as asthma and diabetes. Since they have always been confident and optimism, they tend to use the same perceptions and spirit to fight the new health challenges facing them.
Psychologically, optimism plays an important role in giving people energy and raising their spirits when coping with difficult life events and challenges. It has been linked to better responses to mild and extreme events such as missile attacks and terrorism. It has a protective role in which people use extraordinary methods of coping with disasters, violence, and other traumatizing events. Moreover, it strongly correlates with self-esteem and life satisfaction (Scheier and Carver 1082). These findings suggest that optimism is related to positive effect, implying that people high confidence levels have happier lives even when they are facing challenges.
In conclusion, I think we have always ignored the importance of being optimistic in our lives. People tend to shy away or fear facing challenges and difficult situations. Without optimism, people will not develop high spirits to fight problems and issues in life. Instead, they shy avoid taking steps to improve the situation, which ends in losing. On the contrary, those with high levels of optimism are likely to have the spirit to challenge the problems coming their way, eventually winning the battle for survival.
Works Cited
Biber, Duke D., Bridget Melton, and Daniel R. Czech. “The impact of COVID-19 on college anxiety, optimism, gratitude, and course satisfaction.” Journal of American College Health 70.7 (2022): 1947-1952. Web.
Gupta, Snehil, and Rajesh Sagar. “National mental health programme-optimism and caution: a narrative review.” Indian journal of psychological medicine 40.6 (2018): 509-516. Web.
Philbin, Morgan M., and Amaya Perez-Brumer. “Promise, perils and cautious optimism: the next frontier in long-acting modalities for the treatment and prevention of HIV.” Current Opinion in HIV and AIDS 17.2 (2022): 72.
Scheier, Michael F., and Charles S. Carver. “Dispositional optimism and physical health: A long look back, a quick look forward.” American Psychologist 73.9 (2018): 1082. Web.