Staying Optimistic when the World is Darkness

Difficult but Necessary

“How do you stay optimistic with all that’s going on in the world?”

That’s the question I was asked a few days ago. Someone approached me for some writing advice. And took the opportunity to ask how I managed to stay so chill with all the chaos around us.

What he doesn’t know is that my chill appearance hides deep internal conflicts.

Last night, I was preparing my post for this Wednesday morning. I had several draft ideas. I was going to talk about the soul. But that seemed too esoteric to tackle. 

I was going to tell you about one of the trials of my life that I haven’t touched on in almost 200 posts. I had constructed a thought. Lessons. Then I made the mistake of opening a feed.

Our age has brought horror within reach. A few scrolls on an app and you’re plunged into the heart of mayhem.

Drawn into the world’s current events. Wars, conflicts, inflation, instability… Chaos has taken hold of our world. Suddenly, all the topics I wanted to talk about seemed trivial. 

Here I am, sitting in front of my PC, trying to find a story when the whole world is suffering. Impossible to write.

Anyone who thinks I manage to stay optimistic every day is mistaken. Some mornings, like this morning, I wake up and I don’t want to anything. Pessimism takes its power over me. 

I think about the world going wrong. I think about my children’s future.. Emotionally paralyzed, I know I’m supposed to publish this Wednesday morning but I can’t even write.

Motionless pen, dried ink. I look at the page, start a sentence, correct it, edit it, erase it. The words, so easy, so fluid, every day, for months, don’t come. My hands move. But my heart isn’t in it.

When in doubt, I try to hold on to philosophy. Philosophy for me is not theoretical. I don’t want to be one of those people who says things but doesn’t apply them. I close my eyes. Dive into my memory to try and find some light. Perhaps it will come from the stoics?

Accept what you can’t contro

I remember the story of Zeno. This rich Phoenician merchant. He was traveling on his ship laden with merchandise. A surprise storm wrecked his boat’s destiny in the underwater kingdom. The full weight of his gold plunged into the depths of the ocean. 
Zeno has lost everything. 
Stranded on the beach, he manages to crack a joke. “I made a prosperous voyage.”

If I'd been with him. I would have said thank you. I would have chuckled heartily. His joke, as well as being funny, is a symbol of the resilience that lies within all of us.

But my thoughts catch up with me. Today, I’m not suffering. This is the world.

I close my eyes and think. How to remain optimistic in a pessimistic world. How to transmute the negative into the positive.

In the struggle between good and evil, we are all protagonists. Good will always surpass evil. And when the world goes wrong, good is magnified.

The thought invigorates me. When the world is plunged into darkness, all acts of light shine even brighter. The more evil that surrounds us, the more it’s our duty to do good.

A few days ago, a friend of mine told me: “What’s the point? We can’t change the world!”

It’s a thought I refuse to believe. To think that nothing can be done. It means finding a valid reason for doing nothing.

You can’t change the world de facto. But you can change your world. Those around us. Our communities. We can try to be lights in the darkness. Do our best and try to inspire.

Around me, my relatives and friends are suffering from the anxiety-inducing climate. Inflation. Housing crisis. Business in dire straits. Jobs disappearing due to digitalization. They’re afraid of the future. And I understand them. They have every reason to be.

I don’t see any way to fix it other than to try to reassure them. I don’t see any way to fix it other than to try to reassure them. To tell them : “Maybe it won’t all work out. But we’ll figure something.” We’ll be resilient. To work as hard as I can to help them.
To learn as much as possible to find solutions to their problems.

My idea is : if you change your world, you’ll inspire others to change theirs. And together, we can change the world.

Words count for very little. The only way to change the world is to embody change. No one will be inspired by your words. They’ll be inspired by your actions.

You can only change someone by being the proof of change yourself. No one will follow you if you don’t align your actions with your words.

All that’s left for me to do. Embody the change I want. Align my actions with my words.

If I want this world of fear, anxiety and anxiety about the future… to smile again. I must smile.

If I want this pessimistic world to become optimistic: I must become optimistic.