This past year of politics has been hard. As someone on the left, it feels like every day is a new political crisis. From the UN Report on Global Warming, the Kavanaugh Hearing, FBI Investigations, and daily news stories out the White House, I have been overwhelmed. Despite the fact that I consider myself fairly political involved (heck, I am getting my MA in political communication), there are days where if feels like I can’t even look at my phone without screaming. However, it isn’t just happening to those on the left. Even my friends and family on the right have been feeling it.
Cause fatigue is real. Constantly being bombarded with negative news and being thrown into a cycle of outrage is exhausting. Slowly you become worn down until you feel like you have to leave the system all together.
It is easy to become hopeless in the face of everything our world is facing right now.
However, I have always considered myself an optimist. “Well at least……” is my favorite sentence starter. I will consider the glass half full even if it means I am shoveling water into that glass as fast as someone else pours it out of it. I have thrived on positivity, even being given an award for “Most positive” at summer camp as a child. In my professional life, on Strengthfinder, a strength assessment which I have taken 2 twice for work, positivity has come out as my number one strength by a landslide. In fact, sometimes my positivity can border on naivety since I am so insistent on trying to see the bright side of any situation.
But I am exhausted.
In politics over the last few years, it can feel like my positivity burner has been working so hard that the gas on the stove is starting to go out. However, I refuse for that to happen, because you see….
Optimism is, in itself, political.
Last week, I was going on a walk with one of my coworkers where we were talking about positivity. Both of us are often asked, “How can you be so positive? Don’t you ever get mad?” Of course there is a healthy amount of venting involved in our friendship, but also, we both see positivity as a choice. It is easy to become angry and frustrated. It is easy to be apathetic and give up. But we intentionally surround ourselves with other people who believe in positivity. Even if a situation can seem futile and hopeless, we want to surround ourselves with other people who see that small ray of hope, because if more people believe in that ray of hope, it can get brighter and brighter till it lights up the whole sky.
Okay, that metaphor may have been pretty darn corny, but it is true.
The only people who benefit from pessimism are those who are already in control. If you don’t think you have the ability to make a difference, why the heck would you try? Thus, things stay the same.
If you don’t think your vote matters, why would you cast it? If you don’t think canvassing matters, why would you spend your weekend knocking on doors? If you don’t think you can make a change, why would you run for office?
But by leaning into that feeling of dismay, it is essentially ensuring that the systems of power that currently exist are those that remain in power. If everyone is too tired or too cynical to care, why would something change? That isn’t to say that it isn’t okay to feel frustrated and hopeless. I even wrote a blog about self care after the 2016 election. What it does mean is that you shouldn’t let pessimism become your ultimate state of being.
By making the choice to be optimistic, you are choosing to say that a better future is possible, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Optimism gives you the fuel to keep on fighting another day. So whatever your cause is, whatever issue you care about most, reach inside yourself and find your optimism, then find your people. By surrounding yourself with other individuals who believe in a better world you will find yourself refreshed, energized, and fired up. Take that optimism and channel it into action.
While we may lose some battles and may need time to heal, nothing will ever change without a brave group of optimists fighting for a future they believe in. I plan to remain one of those optimists.