Optimist Club

On a recent trip back to Minnesota, Matt was helping out his Mom in the garage when he noticed something that sparked wonderful vibes.

It was his 1984 camp t-shirt from the Salvation Army pinned to the wall. It brought back memories of playing basketball and games, chowing down McDonald's lunches, and being influenced by some incredibly positive, encouraging, and supportive camp counselors.

There was something about the t-shirt he hadn’t noticed ever before…it said “Optimist Club” on it. It occurred to Matt that the amazing experience at camp over 40 years ago wasn’t random fun and contagious positivity by chance. It was the explicit goal and plan of the camp to train and prepare us for a happy life. They sought to teach us how to face adversity and thrive when challenged. 

After all, life is full of setbacks and challenges. It seems to us that what we do with those curveballs matters most. Do we see them as opportunities to learn and grow? Do we find the blessings in the challenge? Do we use the problem to inspire us? In the words of mindset guru, Ryan Holiday, they seemed to be teaching us that “the obstacle is the way”.

With all of the challenges and negativity around us, it could be easy to fall into the valley of despair. We’re certainly not immune to these challenging times nor our human genetic makeup where scarcity and anxiety can easily creep into our minds and lives. But what if we chose to simply focus on what we can control…our attitude, our effort, our role, our development?

From time to time we have to check ourselves. Here are a few personal examples where we flipped the script! 

When out for a walk we happened to notice someone didn’t clean up their dog's “business”. We initially thought how rude! Then we checked ourselves and chose to think differently about the situation. Maybe they just ran out of doggie bags…let’s just pick it up to help them out and keep the neighborhood clean.

Another example happened when someone cut in front of us to get onto the highway ramp quickly rather than wait in line with the rest of us. Just as we were about to lay down on the horn we thought maybe they were running late to a super important appointment…we quickly chose to let them in and help them get there on time!

A final example occurred in the Costco parking lot. While patiently waiting for a shopper to load up their car and exit the space so we could take it, someone else came around the corner and took the space before we could pull in. Again, our first thought was, “What the heck?” Then we checked ourselves and said they must need it more than us. Ironically, as we drove by, a much better spot just happened to open up magically for us!

It seems to us we can all do a better job assuming positive intent. We can have a better life by controlling how we perceive and react to things. It’s a choice and we can choose to be happy and optimistic or we can choose to find fault and see the negative side of things. 

So what it comes down to is simply this, is your glass half full or half empty?  You get to decide and no one can tell you otherwise. 

That’s all for now folks until next time, we wish all good things for you! 

Matt & Christina