I decided to take the Optimism for the Future test and I didn’t quite get the results that I thought I would since I feel that I tend to have a pretty happy outlook on life. I got a mix of results, some very optimistic and others more pessimistic depending on the situation that I was presented with. However, here I think there was a distinction between happiness and optimism that I wasn’t quite aware of. Generally, I’m able to maintain a positive attitude when in the moment by constantly trying and searching for how to make the best out of any situation or how to maximize/make the most of any opportunity.
Taking the test revealed to me just how caught up I can get in my head and how at these times of lack of self-confidence I can blame myself for an outcome when in reality it might not have had to do with me at all. It was interesting because when taking the Optimism for the Future test, I felt like I selected the answers that were most honest and true to myself and that often meant taking responsibility for either forgetting something, rather than assigning my forgetfulness to some trivial answer.
For my Permanence-Good Events section, I scored a 4 which lands pretty average on the optimism scale. The idea of this section was whether or not you believed that a good event brought/was part of permanently good or if the good event was more of a one-off. My score was pretty average because I feel that I can acknowledge when something optimistic or “good” happens, but I’m often too shy to think that I was the one to have caused it and that I could repeat it. Though I don’t think there’s necessarily a direct to pessimism, rather I became more neutral if things didn’t work out, I did tend to think of good events as one-off events that I was able to successfully achieve.
I scored very optimistically in my Permanence-Bad Events. I think this score has to do with the same sort of mindset I had when thinking about the permanence of bad events as one-offs as well. I think rather than revealing my optimism or pessimism, the scores between these two sections showed me that I might have an initial feeling about a situation, however, I can move on quickly whether that be a good or bad thing.
These ties with persuasive-good and pervasive-bad scores led to an overall hopelessness score. I think that there is a difference between a feeling of current hopelessness and being caught up in the middle of something and an impending or overarching feeling of hopelessness. While I can be subject to feelings of hopelessness on a daily or when I’m assigned so many tasks that they seem insurmountable when putting my head down and just getting through it I’m able to see that I can do challenging things, and in that, allow my learning experience to give myself more context and hope in the future.
