Dear pessimists,

Hi, how are you? Wait let me rephrase that…why are you mad at the world today? Is it because the coronavirus is still going on or that the weather is just too cold – maybe something completely different? Your negative energy is drowning – I do know that.

Personally, I am an optimist. I like to see the glass half full rather than half empty. I get it that sometimes the world does suck – we all have our days. I just think you guys need a little more positivity in your life, something to cure that negative energy. I do not know how you guys do it. From what I have heard, it takes a lot more muscles to frown than to smile.

You are the people that sit inside when it rains instead of being the people that are dancing in the rain. The people that are mad while sitting in traffic instead of seeing it as an opportunity to have a car ride karaoke battle. You are like the mosquitos in the fall and bees in the summer, always around but not always welcomed.

At the same time, I feel bad for people like you. I have had my fair share of encounters with pessimistic people. That person that always has something to complain about in their life – no one wants to hear someone rambling about everything that is wrong. Spoiler alert: we all have bad things going on in our lives. I understand that people need to vent; I need to vent and let everything out sometimes too. I still have my moments. I mean the other day it felt like my world was crumbling right in front of me between COVID, trips being cancelled and everything else that seemed to be wrong at that moment. It was like the world was plotting against me. I let myself feel self pity but then I paused to think of all the things that were positive during what seemed like a terrible time.

Yet, you have to want to change your mindset. Being an optimist does not mean I always think the world is sunshine and rainbows but I like to think the world has more good in it than bad.

I am going to give you some advice, take it or leave it. My advice is to use the 5 by 5 rule.  I use this one a lot. If it is not going to matter in five years, do not spend more than five minutes being affected by it. Take your five minutes of anger or frustration or whatever it may be, let it affect you but only for five minutes. After that five minutes is over, put on your big people pants and move on. Let it go.