The Optimist's Creed

I do not know why, but the words of The Optimist’s Creed instill a great amount of hope within me. The other night, when I felt as though the pressures of college started to become too much, I found these words. As I read these words, I began to remember the person that I am…or at least the person I was. Before college, I loved being a happy-go-lucky person that would always look on the bright side of life, disbelieving that negative events could happen to my friends or me. As I carried out my collegiate studies, I found myself academically struggling, an experience that is unfamiliar to me. As well as academically struggling, I was beginning to struggle socially, namely in the dating realm. My bright outlook on life was beginning to dim and I felt my once high spirits being pushed lower with each passing day. One Tuesday evening, I had finished my Botany laboratory and begun filing papers at my work. My collegiate work had been ever increasing and an illness on Monday did not alleviate the matter. I sat behind my desk, worrying about how I might be able to finish such an amount of homework in a short period of time; I saw a flash of metal. I picked up a plaque, the object that had made the flash, and read the words “The Optimist’s Creed” at the top of the plaque. These words were a shocking reminder that the person I was becoming is not the person I want to be. I hated to worry about how I would finish assignments or trivial social matters. I was happy with the person I was, and I was damned if I would let anything change that. Relieved to have found such great words of wisdom, I found myself in my usual optimistic state. Perhaps the reason that The Optimist’s Creed, written by C.D. Larson, instills such hope within me is that my normal state of ease is restored, assuring me that all will be fine.