Optimist Day
Look on the bright side! Life may have its ups and downs, but optimism keeps the sun shining when everything else may be overcast.
Position your brand as a partner in building positive mindsets and resilience by celebrating optimism as a science-backed wellness practice.
- Share research-backed benefits of optimism for mental and physical health recovery
- Feature customer stories of overcoming challenges through positive thinking
- Create a 'Positivity Challenge' encouraging followers to share one optimistic goal for the year
- Partner with wellness influencers to discuss practical optimism-building habits
The world has been calling out for a day like this for a while, but what actually is an optimist? An optimist is someone who has positive views about their place in life and the future. They’re more likely to think good things will happen and can see the positive side of many situations.
An optimist is more than someone who just believes things will work out, as they are also people who work hard to build a positive future. Let’s face it – being an optimist all the time is hard. We’re not perfect, and we all have to work on it unless you’re lucky enough to be a natural-born optimist.
Science proves that being optimistic is good for your mental and physical health. Five decades of research into the positive mindset has revealed that being an optimist helps you recover from illness faster.
Optimists recover from surgery quicker, have higher immunity, and are even more likely to survive cancer. Optimists have a better quality of life, a longer life, and might be more resilient than their pessimistic counterparts.
So we’re all screaming, ‘but how can we be more positive’ and ‘why is it so hard to be positive?’. To make us feel better, scientists have told us that the ability to be positive largely stems from our genetics and our environment.
So if you’re not a natural optimist, it’s not necessarily your fault! But the good news is, we can train our brain to be more optimistic.
Think about a recent situation or an upcoming obstacle that will impact your life. How are you going to overcome it? And what will the positive impact of this challenge be? Making yourself write down a list of positive features can help construct a more positive mindset and view the world in a more optimistic light.
For millions of years, we were only designed to survive until the age of 30, and our lifespan was focused on avoiding being eaten and finding food to eat. But now we’re living increasingly longer lives, optimism is a crucial part of keeping our brains younger and happier for longer. That’s why Optimist Day was created.
The founders wanted us to counter-culture the ingrained Blue Monday, and instead, spend a day where we focus on the positive mindset. As we already have days to commiserate and indulge our negative sides, maybe it’s finally time to have a day where we simply embrace the positive and focus on opportunities for optimism.