1. Maybe It’ll Work Out
I don’t always believe in best-case scenarios.
But I do believe in maybe.
Maybe the meeting won’t be as bad as I’m imagining.
Maybe the person I’m worried about will actually show up.
Maybe today won’t go sideways like yesterday did.
It’s not that I’m sure everything will go right.
I’ve just learned that sometimes, it surprisingly does.
And maybe… that’s enough to keep trying.
2. A History of Making It Through
Sometimes optimism isn’t about the future.
It’s about the past.
It’s looking at everything you thought would break you—and realizing it didn’t.
The bad week ended.
The painful talk passed.
You figured something out. You found a way.
So when something new shows up,
You remind yourself:
“I’ve done this before. I’ll do it again.”
3. Not Everything Has to Be Fixed Right Now
You don’t have to solve it all today.
You don’t have to feel better by 3 PM.
Some things just take time—and that’s not failure.
Being optimistic doesn’t mean you’re pretending everything’s fine.
It just means you still believe there’s a version of this where you’re okay.
Maybe not now. But eventually.
That belief changes things.
4. When You Can’t See It, Borrow It
There are days I don’t have hope.
So I borrow it from someone else.
A text from a friend. A memory of a time I laughed.
A stranger online saying, “You’re not alone.”
Optimism isn’t always loud.
Sometimes it’s borrowed.
Sometimes it’s whispered.
Sometimes it’s just:
“Let’s try again tomorrow.”
5. Small Things That Prove It’s Not All Bad
An old song on the radio.
Finding an open seat on the train.
Someone holding the door.
Your coffee order being just right.
Tiny things, but they add up.
They don’t fix everything,
But they make the day softer.
And maybe that’s what optimism is:
Not ignoring what’s hard,
But noticing what isn’t.
