Optimism

One of the greatest climbers on the planet, Tommy Caldwell, frequently cites how important optimism is in accomplishing big, intimidating, and awesome goals.  He even talks about it as a theme in his Ted Talk.

It is so easy to fall into the rut of sympathetically complaining with other people.  My teaching job is full of opportunities for frustration and disappointment, and too frequently my coworkers and I get beat down and allow negativity to overtake us.  We complain, stress, dramatize, and just generally work ourselves up into a tizzy.  I don't see the problem with the occasional venting session to get stuff off my chest, but complaining daily (or even several times per week) can't be good.  Reading this great article The Science of Happiness: Why complaining is literally killing you, along with any Cognitive Behavioral Therapy book, it has become clear that we become our thoughts-- the more we think negatively, the more burly those thought synapses become, and the easier it is to fall into those thoughts.

So, back to optimism.  It seems that the world has challenges and disappointments, and I've noticed that when I get negative and pessimistic, I do nothing to change the problem.  In fact, when I step back and see myself whining about an unmotivated student or an injury or fear I have, it's as if I'm punching a rock-- it hurts me a lot and does nothing to the problem.  It's better to just look at the problem as an opportunity to become stronger, more experienced, and more crafty.

Life is like a boulder field, and some people choose to walk through it angry about all the rocks, punching them, yelling, and cussing.  By the time they get halfway through they are bloodied, sweaty, and looking of demonic possession.  Generally, outsiders look at them with fear, pity... or they just think they're crazy.  Other people walk through the boulder field climbing the boulders that make for a good challenge and an opportunity for growth, and side-stepping others when necessary, not allowing the boulder to get the best of them.  An outsider would look at these people and see someone with elf-like agility who is enjoying their time in the boulder field.

As the next year comes my way, I know that to accomplish my long-standing goals as an athlete, and to become a generally happier and better teacher, I need to look at the boulder field of life as an opportunity to gain experience, craftiness, and strength; and to generally become better at mastering my own emotions.

Tommy Caldwell began as a self-proclaimed dorky kid who was bad at sports and became possibly the most incredible all-around climber to walk the planet.  His dad so strongly believed that his son was capable of the impossible, and this spilled over into Tommy.  Something that separates him and makes him world-class is is ability to take a seemingly impossible task and believe that he can accomplish it, even when progress moves at a creep.  He takes on the most difficult boulders in the boulder field of life and uses them to better himself, always believing that he can overcome the improbable.

I want to make it a point to take on the challenges I face believing that I can overcome them, even when progress is slow and frustration is vying to overtake me.  I want to become better at avoiding negative talk, hard-wiring myself to be happier and un-phased by the challenges of my daily life.