My name is Anna and I’m an eternal optimist

Together, we’re going to go on a journey. We’re going to rediscover, what I believe to be, the hidden positives found in our world. The positive aspects that are overshadowed by the crushing negative information we are lambasted with on a daily basis. Somewhere along the way, humanity forgot how to live. It forgot how to accept people for who they are, instead we are judged without understanding. We are placed under degrading and demoralising stereotypes because of who we are, where we are from and how we live our lives. Well, it ends here. Whether you consider yourself an optimist, a pessimist, a realist or a dreamer, I ask that you clear your mind and open your heart to a new way of thinking. Welcome to the Hidden Positives!

Throughout our journey I hope to change your way of thinking, I hope to get you to understand things from my perspective just a little, to help you understand why I remain eternally optimistic and adamant that our world is pretty kick ass. The human race is populated with incredibly brilliant people, all with different beliefs, cultures and dreams. I find that pretty incredible. However, I understand that my opinion is not all that common anymore, not everyone still believes that the world is this super cool, kick ass, dome of brilliantness and you know what? I understand. Bad things happen, truly awful things happen in this world and it breaks my heart. However, rather than stay broken hearted I choose to believe in the fairy tales that I truly believe can happen (that’s right, I’m a real life Ariel). So there you have it, my name is Anna, my favourite colour is yellow, I wear unicorn slippers round the house and I absolutely shed a tear watching the new Beauty and the Beast. For the purpose of this blog I’m going to welcome you into the mind of an eternal optimist, put on your tiaras ladies and gents because we’re heading into my fairy tale.

The guide to eternal optimism;

Step 1; Be Kind.

Seems simple enough right? One of the key aspects of my personality is my absolute unwillingness to be anything less than an overly cheery, human Labrador. I challenge you to do something kind, step outside and compliment someone, help someone with a menial task, even something as simple as smiling at someone as you walk past. Think back to a bad day, or what I like to call “its just one of those days”. You dropped your McDonalds (the horror, right?), you’ve had a bad day at work and you’re in a pretty horrific mood, you’re walking down the street and someone smiles. Just for a second. You smile back, and there’s a moment where that stuff doesn’t matter, even if its just for a second, you smile. I am a huge believer that a smile can go a long way because you absolutely never know when someone needs it most. I truly believe that the most important thing you can do with your life is to be kind. Let people know how important they are, let them feel like every story is worth your time, let them know that they have the capacity to be who they want to be. Take your kindness and throw it around like confetti, it costs nothing to be kind and every one of you has the capacity to do so. When you start to spread kindness around, you start to see it more in others. It starts in small gestures, a comment here, a smile there. You start to see the little things people do that maybe didn’t mean much before, but if you look closely, you’ll realise that maybe that’s all they had to give. So now? I pick up every penny and pass it onto a stranger for good luck, I smile at every passing stranger and I truly care with every ounce of my being. So, if you’ve ever smiled at me in the street, or complimented me as I passed. If you’ve ever believed in me when I didn’t, then from the bottom of my heart, I thank you.

Step 2; Become the best version of yourself.

Believe in yourself. Sounds like the biggest cliché in the world, I know. To me, this is one of the most important guides to eternal optimism. There was a time in my life I didn’t believe in myself much at all, my tiara fell off and I stopped believing in my fairy tale. I’m not ashamed to admit that I hit a speed bump in my journey and I didn’t cope, I lost my sparkle. It took me a long time to realise my potential. I overcame a great hurdle, I may have lost myself in the process but by the end I found this better version, a more determined, brave, loving version of myself. Since I was little I always believed I could change the world and now I really do believe I can, this isn’t a dream anymore. I have a voice, I have my beliefs and most importantly, I have this heart that’s got the capacity to love beyond my bounds. I was born with a heart that tugs whenever I see adversity and discrimination, it aches when I see suffering and it becomes determined with the prospect of doing something to help. I really can do this. Don’t ever sell yourself short. Everyone has the capacity to do something amazing. I’m not talking about taking over the world or becoming some A-list celebrity. I’m talking about being the best version of yourself, follow your dreams and don’t let anything stand in your way. You are strong, you are wonderful and you are important and if I have to get on the tallest platform in the world and scream through a megaphone I will. Not everyone believes in the good of the heart anymore but I do, I know I sound like some agony aunt but from the bottom of my heart I believe in the human race. I believe in a better world and I’ll strive everyday to achieve it.

Step 3; Don’t fill your heart with hate.

Succumbing to hate is so easy to do nowadays. Its literally sitting right in front of you in a bold font, screaming at you from the front page of your paper. Its there for everyone to see and I’ll give it to you, its hard to look past. Here is where I get serious and I mean want to tear my hair out and scream at the world serious. I understand there are bad people in the world, I’m not blind and I’m honestly not as naïve as I may seem. Yes, even in the world I’ve carefully constructed for myself bad things happen. However, I’m going to focus on one in particular for the purpose of this blog. Recently, our world was rocked by a terror attack. Honestly, my heart shattered when I saw the news. Terrorism knows no bounds and once again, lives were cruelly taken. Innocent lives were taken and others ripped apart because of hate and a cruelty that I cannot begin to comprehend. However, it is how we react to these attacks that make us the world that I love. People banded together, once again, to show that we will not be broken. This world, our nation, is made up of a diverse community, all people, all countries, yet we stand as one. THAT is the world I believe in. The world I do not believe in and will not tolerate is those who fight hate with more hate. I will say it once and I will say it again, extremism is a small minority in every culture/faith. Every human form has been affected by terrorism. Discrimination is not okay and it breaks my heart everyday that people still have the audacity to say that others are not welcome because of colour/faith/religion. There is only one race in this world and that’s the human race. You cannot fight hate with hate, you overcome it by loving more, by embracing another and holding hands as we stand up against the cruelty that has taken so much from all of us. I will say this, we all bleed the same, so what gives you the right to put your life ahead of another?

Step 4; “In a world full of pigeons, be a bright pink flamingo”

I’m going to leave you with this little gem of a quote. The best advice I can give anyone to achieve eternal optimism is just be yourself. I’ll go first. I’m just back from a period of travelling (I’ll share more with you at a later date), I love learning about different cultures and religions, my walls are painted yellow and I have a mirror above my dresser that says “fly with fairies, swim with mermaids”, I have the most incredible family and the most weirdly wonderful group of friends but most importantly of all, I absolutely adore the world we live in. I hope over time I can help you understand why and maybe, just maybe, you’ll start to see the hidden positives too.