#recklessoptimism

[ntrntcitizn]

Practice reckless optimism. @harto #recklessoptimism

[cheeky-ey-blinders]

Last week I started #Buffering from @harto and I honestly got it cuz I'm a huge fan girl and I will probably buy every book she ever gets published, but honestly I can not recommended it enough. It's left me with a huge feeling of belonging. Of not being as alone as I sometimes feel. A feeling of being understood (even tho she has no idea who i am.) Our lives and our struggles are vastly different, but also have a sense of similarity. And I will always be an advocate of #recklessoptimism #hannahhart #mydrunkkitchen #mybabe

[ohvickieyousofine]

I have some super exciting volunteer/side gigs coming up and omigooooosh BRING IT ON #recklessoptimism

[snayl]

What a waste. cc @harto @clubw #recklessoptimism #wine #spill #tragic #ihazasadness

[amyrebekahholt]

Reckless Optimism

While I was on my way to have dinner with a friend tonight, I was listening to the podcast The Nerdist. The particular episode that was playing featured Hannah Hart - a woman whose name I’ve heard but have never known anything about. (I learned that she is an internet personality, comedian, author, and actress.)

Hannah talked a little about pessimism and optimism and about how people sometimes ask her why she has such a naturally positive outlook on most things. She explained that her real natural tendency is to lean towards pessimism rather than optimism, but she instead makes a daily choice to be positive. She went on to to call this choice “reckless optimism.”

I love her phrase. I love that she believes that people have the choice to be optimistic and that optimism is not something that only a select few people are somehow randomly gifted with.

I love the idea of reckless optimism because by first appearance it can seem like a rather foolish phrase. I love it because it flies in the face of practical cynicism. I love it because I lean so naturally and easily towards bitter-laced expectations (is bitter-laced a thing?) and my own cynicism fits me like a glove. I love that my low expectations can be proven wrong.

I don’t think that reckless optimism is naivety. I don’t think that choosing to be optimistic is choosing to pretend that negative things do not happen.

I do think it’s about having hope. I know that not everyone’s hope comes from the same source, and I am fine with that. But when I think of hope I think of this quote:

“When we’re talking about God, we’re talking about every single one of those moments - whether they’re earth-shatteringly loud and large or infinitesimally small and whisper-like, mere slivers you inadvertently stumble upon - moments when you are convinced, even if you’ve been burned and let down and betrayed countless times - that cynicism does not have the last word, that life is not random or meaningless or empty, but that what you do and how you feel and what you say and where you go and what you make of this life you’ve been given matters.” - Rob Bell, What We Talk About When We Talk About God

[mo-knows]

Practicing a little reckless optimism tonight on my date with myself. Yep, I took myself on a date. Tacos, country roads and sunflower fields...#kansas #recklessoptimism #treatyoself #harto #sunflowers (at Grinter Farms)

[mo-knows]

Pairs best with nerdiness. #recklessoptimism #harto #clubw

[mo-knows]

Just when I'd run out of optimism look what came today. #recklessoptimism #hannahhart #harto #clubw