September 21, 2025 • 22 mins
What if the most powerful tool for transforming your life has been misunderstood all along? Optimism—not the superficial, smile-through-everything kind—but the gritty, realistic force that acknowledges difficulties while refusing to be defined by them.
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Episode Transcript
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Wes (00:02):
Hello and welcome to the AccordionOS podcast, where I'm
dedicated to exploring thepowerful beliefs and attitudes
that shape our lives.
I'm your host, wes, and todayI'm diving into a quality that's
often misunderstood, but andperhaps in one of the most
(00:22):
powerful tools, we have Optimism.
Perhaps in one of the mostpowerful tools, we have optimism
.
When you hear the word optimist, we you know what comes to mind
Maybe a person with a permanentsmile, who sees the world
through rose-colored glasses, orsomeone who believes everything
(00:43):
will work out perfectly.
We often associate optimismwith a kind of naive blindness
to reality, basically, but Iwant to propose a different
definition that true optimismisn't about ignoring the storm.
(01:04):
It's about trusting.
You have a trusting.
You have a raincoat.
It's a realistic, hopefuloutlook that acknowledges
challenges but firmly believesin the possibility of a better
future.
An optimist isn't someone whobelieves nothing bad would ever
happen.
Instead, they are someone whobelieves that when bad things do
(01:27):
happen, they have theresilience and the resources to
get through them.
It's an internal belief inone's own capability be
(01:49):
optimistic, the science thatproves its benefits and, most
importantly, how we cancultivate more of it in our
daily lives.
First, let's clear up somecommon misconceptions.
(02:11):
Optimism is not the same astoxic positivity.
What Toxic positivity is thedismissal of real difficult
emotions in favor of forcedcheerful outlooks.
It's the person who tells youjust be happy when you're
grieving.
That's not optimism.
It's like a form of emotionalsuppression.
(02:34):
Optimism, on the other hand, isa grounded perspective.
An optimistic person can feelsad, angry or disappointed, but
they don't let those emotionsdefine their future.
They can say things like uh,this is a difficult situation
(02:54):
and I'm feeling hurt, but Ibelieve I can get through this
and I'll be okay.
That's optimism.
For example, someone eats yourleftover Chick-fil-a in the
fridge.
You've been waiting on that allday.
You feel hurt, disrespected,but you will get through it,
like anything else.
(03:17):
Scientific research has longsupported the benefits of an
optimistic mindset.
Studies have shown thatoptimists tend to have a better
physical health, lower levels ofstress and a stronger immune
system.
They are more likely to takeproactive steps to solve
problems and are less likely tofall into states of learned
(03:40):
helplessness.
The reason is simple yourbrain's explanatory style, how
you explain the cause of goodand bad events in your life
directly impacts your mood andbehavior.
A pessimist often viewsnegative events as permanent,
(04:05):
pervasive and personal.
An optimist, however, sees thesame negative event as temporary
, specific and external Message.
This fundamental difference inperspective is the true engine
(04:25):
of optimism.
So what are the tangiblebenefits of cultivating this
mindset?
Why is it a superpower?
Well, for one one, it enhancesyour resilience.
(04:46):
Optimism acts as a bufferagainst life's and that of
inevitable setbacks.
Because optimist see challengesas temporary and specific, they
don't get stuck in a cycle ofdespair.
They are able to bounce backfaster from failures.
And when a project fails at work.
(05:08):
A pessimist might think I'm afailure and I'll never succeed.
An optimist might think theapproach didn't work.
What can I learn from this?
What?
Can I try?
next.
This resilience is a key tolong-term success in any field.
Being optimistic can improveyour problem solving.
(05:33):
An optimistic mindset is acreative mindset.
When you believe that asolution is possible, you are
more likely to seek it out.
Pessimism can be paralyzing,leading to inaction and feeling
stuck.
Optimism, on the other hand,provides the mental and
emotional energy to explore newideas, think outside the box and
(05:58):
take calculated risks.
Optimism also builds betterrelationships.
People are naturally drawn tothose who are hopeful and have a
positive outlook, and optimistscan be a source of
encouragement, support forfriends and loved ones,
strengthening social bonds andcreating a more positive
(06:22):
environment for everyone.
When you believe in people andtheir potential, they tend to
rise to the occasion.
However, don't let optimismmake you a fool.
More than likely people do notrise to the occasion and they
waste their potential and wasteour time.
(06:49):
We all know a couple people likethat.
They might actually be sittingright beside you.
Optimism can lead to increasedmotivation and action.
For an example, why would youput in any effort if you don't
believe it will lead to apositive outcome?
Optimism provides the crucialbelief that your actions matter.
(07:11):
It fuels persistence,encourages you to get out of bed
in the morning and inspires youto take on new challenges.
It's the internal drive thatsays I can do this.
It's the internal drive thatsays I can do this Without a
(07:32):
shadow of a doubt.
I can say being optimistic,having optimism, truly fucking
works.
It has definitely worked for me.
It has worked in situations inmy life where all I had was
optimism and two hundred dollarsfree a month after crippling
debt and stuff like that.
(07:53):
Um, I remember one point in timein my life where um all I had
to look forward to was thefuture, because what I was going
through currently was, I feltlike a failure for lack of
better words.
I did what all the young dumbmen do, and you know you moving
(08:19):
with your girlfriend at the time, y'all you know splitting the
bills and, and you knowsplitting the bills and fucking
and and trying to make it workright.
Stupid, uh.
and the reason why I say why,why I say young and dumb is
because now, if I could do thatover uh I would make sure I was
in a better situation to standon my two feet, and I think I've
(08:41):
talked about this in a priorpodcast.
But during that time yeah,during that time, you know,
we're sharing an apartment,we're sharing a life.
Quote unquote things go left anda hard left and, long story
short, I have no place to gobecause I can't afford what's
(09:06):
coming my way, which is billsand some more stuff.
So my mom graciously took meback in.
I'm back at home, I'm working ajob that I I'm working a job.
It's not really a career.
I see no future in this.
(09:28):
It's something to give me money.
I see no future in this.
It's something to give me money.
And I'm halfway in and out ofcollege at this point.
So yeah, hearing that a lot ofyou might think OK, doesn't
really sound too bad.
You have a job, yeah, you backat home.
But you know, get your weightup, get your money up, you'll be
good to go.
But you know, get your weightup, get your money up, you'll be
(09:50):
good to go.
But I ask you this how the helldo you do that when, knock,
knock, knock.
Now the IRS is knocking on yourdoor and saying, hey, you owe
us a lot of fucking money.
Good question.
And for a young college student, I don't know how much I owe,
but it was a lot and it wassomething I could not afford.
(10:12):
And also, mom wants you to kickin some money while you're
there.
Now of course I can't tell herlike, hey, uh, I owe the irs
some money and my shit is fuckedup, my money's fucked up.
Um, because you know, at thattime I'm feeling a little.
I'm feeling a littleembarrassed that I'm back at
(10:33):
home.
I don't know how to communicatewith that to my mom and she's
also asking for money and it'sjust kind of like all right, I
gotta figure out a way.
Optimism, that is all the.
That is the tool that I had.
I had to become resourcefulbecause I'm like yo.
People are in worse situationsthan I am in.
I've never been in thissituation, but I feel like I can
(10:55):
.
I can make my way out.
And I also told myself I'm likeyo, whatever plan I come up
with, the end goal is to neverhave to come back home.
It can't be some half measurewhere I just kind of get myself,
get my head above the water,just to move back out the house.
I need to have something.
(11:16):
I need to have something in mylife that's concrete, that this
is the baseline.
And if I ever had to go back tothe baseline, well, I need to.
I needed to create a, abaseline where my mom was not
the baseline and her house wasnot the baseline and me, you
know, may, needing to ask peoplefor money is not the baseline.
(11:37):
And if I can come up with that,I'll be good.
And I and you know, like I said, optimism is.
It's making me.
I'm trying to find a way.
I'm trying to find a way.
I'm trying to find a way.
I'm trying to find a.
I'm trying to find a way.
I'm trying to find a way.
I'm trying to find a way.
I'm trying to find a purpose.
I'm trying to see how I can seehow I can make a better life
(12:02):
for myself, for lack of a betterwords and the only thing that I
could come up with.
Well, there's two things duringthis time.
This is kind of give you some alittle bit of background info
to kind of show you howdifficult this might be, what
(12:27):
this was for me.
I was 22.
And during that time I were.
We're still going through therecession, so it wasn't like
jobs were plentiful, companieswasn't paying.
They're still not paying whatthey should be paying, but
that's neither here or there,but I'm dealing with that.
So it's it's.
(12:47):
I can't just easily and readilymake more money.
That's out of the uh question.
I could only get what I can get.
I can only get the job that Ican get.
I have no real hardcore skills.
I may not do, but I don't.
I had an associates in computerscience, but that wasn't
(13:08):
getting me anywhere.
I wasn't getting any looks orany.
No one was calling me back whenit came to employment.
So at that time I'm dealingwith my feelings towards not
(13:29):
being called back for jobs thatI apply for and granted, it is
an associates, but I'm thinkingsome type of entry-level job,
not getting any calls back fromthat.
I'm back at home with my mom.
I'm in a small room, uh, and Igot debt coming for me and the
(13:54):
only thing that I could think ofwas, like I said, get myself to
a new baseline.
And the new baseline, the wayto get there, was my education.
So I had to be serious about it, I had to be disciplined about
it.
I saw a light at the end of thetunnel.
(14:15):
But it wasn't.
It wasn't, it wasn't going tobe a cakewalk and without making
, without dragging on the story,um, I literally had to put
everything that I had towards my.
I had to do some financialmaneuvering.
I had to put everything that Ihad towards my dad to do some
financial maneuvering.
I had to put everything that Iworked for, like want to work
(14:40):
towards my debt that was comingin.
Thank goodness this job offeredtuition reimbursement, but I
couldn't pay for that outright.
Thank goodness I didn't fuck mycredit up, so my only saving
grace was pay for the stuff on acredit card.
(15:02):
Pay for your college classes ona credit card, because at this
point I'm going back for mybachelors.
Pay for that on a credit card soyou can invest in yourself to
get more money and study likehell so when you get the money
back from the company, you putthat back on a credit card and
(15:25):
that will grow your credit atthe same time while getting your
education and grow your creditat the same time while getting
your education.
And it was a slow, arduousprocess, like I didn't have a I
didn't have much of a sociallife during that time because I
didn't have any money.
I didn't have much of aromantic life at that time
(15:49):
because I didn't have any money.
So it was literally work andschool, work in school, work in
school.
And during that time I'm prettysure my friends felt a certain
type of way.
My mom couldn't understand whyI was always angry but it was
just like yo, or why I wasalways like not in the mood.
It's like this is some things Ijust gotta do, like I saw the
(16:12):
light at the end of the tunnel.
I'm being optimistic, but I'mI'm also.
I'm also, uh, coming to termswith what has to happen like
this is my only path.
I have to get out this house,not because I don't love my mom,
I just, I just don't want tostay there.
I had to get out of that houseand I had to be disciplined and
I didn't want anything to breakthat discipline, that, that
(16:35):
focus, because I knew, if it didand I fucked up again, that I
might be at that house forlonger than two, three years if
I can't get a better job ordevelop new skills, that this is
what it's going to be.
Um, but eventually the companythat I was working for I worked
(16:59):
my way up and I'm getting raises, I'm getting, uh, new positions
within the organization hereand there and with that, of
course, a bump in pay.
And I was starting to see it alittle bit more clearly.
I was able to kind of movearound a little bit more with
the money, not nothing crazy,but I'm, I'm, I'm being
(17:20):
optimistic, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'mputting in my head like yo, it's
only a certain amount of time.
It's only a certain amount oftime.
This, it's only a certainamount of time.
This is another month, anothermonth down, and unfortunately it
became like another year down,another year down.
I think I was at my mom's housefor a total.
I was in that situation at mymom's house for a total of three
(17:47):
years, maybe, maybe three tofour, but at the end of it all I
was able to do some greatthings.
I was able to get my bachelor's.
I was able to.
What do you believe in?
Yeah, I was able to get a job.
Uh, I was able to get a job.
(18:08):
I was able to get a job in ITFirst, real, real job in IT
proper.
And when I got that job, thatwas my baseline.
I knew that if I could justwork from this point out that
(18:29):
the baseline of what this is,even if I had to find another
job or something like that thatI am worth at least the minimum
that I got at this particularorganization and I'll be fine I
could make a living if I had tostart over you know if I had to
start over like right away, andI'm telling you that during
that time optimism is all I had.
(18:50):
I had that I had to beoptimistic.
I am not saying that you cannotbe optimistic.
Through the uh, through the manabove, he provides that and he
looks out for you and things ofthat nature, but you have to
believe.
But you have to believe and Ibelieved, I had an optimistic
(19:22):
faith about me and I would say Iwas able to do great things.
And I say all that to say thatoptimism truly, truly, truly
fucking works.
It's hard and there will bethings that come about, day
(19:46):
after day after day that be likeyou don't really need to be
doing this, You're going to fail.
And there's been times I've hadthat feeling, Literally times
I've had that feeling Heartburnin the chest, like I'm about to
fuck my life up again.
And you know, some of thelisteners I'm sure you guys are
thinking like you ain't reallyfucked your life up.
Everybody go home, everyone goesback home and leaves once or
(20:10):
twice.
I didn't know that at the timeIn my head I'm being I'm being
too hard on myself, like if Imoved out, like yo, I'm a man, I
did what I was supposed to do.
So in my head at the time,coming back home, felt like I
was being a failure.
But I also see thingsdifferently now.
(20:33):
But optimism is all I have.
Truly true optimism is notabout ignoring the darkness.
(20:54):
It's about being being thelight.
It's about choosing to believein your own capacity to navigate
the world with hope, resilienceand a positive expectation for
the future.
It's a mindset thatacknowledges the reality of
setbacks but refuses to bedefined by them.
(21:15):
By practicing a more realistic,grounded form of optimism, you
can build your resilience,improve your relationships.
You can build your resilience,improve your relationships and
unlock a more peaceful andpowerful version of yourself.
Thank you for joining me on theAccordion of West podcast until
(21:40):
next time.
remember, you are not yourcircumstances, you are your
response to them.
Choose to be optimistic you.
Hello and welcome to the AccordionOS podcast, where I'm
dedicated to exploring thepowerful beliefs and attitudes
that shape our lives.
I'm your host, wes, and todayI'm diving into a quality that's
often misunderstood, but andperhaps in one of the most
(00:22):
powerful tools, we have Optimism.
Perhaps in one of the mostpowerful tools, we have optimism
.
When you hear the word optimist, we you know what comes to mind
Maybe a person with a permanentsmile, who sees the world
through rose-colored glasses, orsomeone who believes everything
(00:43):
will work out perfectly.
We often associate optimismwith a kind of naive blindness
to reality, basically, but Iwant to propose a different
definition that true optimismisn't about ignoring the storm.
(01:04):
It's about trusting.
You have a trusting.
You have a raincoat.
It's a realistic, hopefuloutlook that acknowledges
challenges but firmly believesin the possibility of a better
future.
An optimist isn't someone whobelieves nothing bad would ever
happen.
Instead, they are someone whobelieves that when bad things do
(01:27):
happen, they have theresilience and the resources to
get through them.
It's an internal belief inone's own capability be
(01:49):
optimistic, the science thatproves its benefits and, most
importantly, how we cancultivate more of it in our
daily lives.
First, let's clear up somecommon misconceptions.
(02:11):
Optimism is not the same astoxic positivity.
What Toxic positivity is thedismissal of real difficult
emotions in favor of forcedcheerful outlooks.
It's the person who tells youjust be happy when you're
grieving.
That's not optimism.
It's like a form of emotionalsuppression.
(02:34):
Optimism, on the other hand, isa grounded perspective.
An optimistic person can feelsad, angry or disappointed, but
they don't let those emotionsdefine their future.
They can say things like uh,this is a difficult situation
(02:54):
and I'm feeling hurt, but Ibelieve I can get through this
and I'll be okay.
That's optimism.
For example, someone eats yourleftover Chick-fil-a in the
fridge.
You've been waiting on that allday.
You feel hurt, disrespected,but you will get through it,
like anything else.
(03:17):
Scientific research has longsupported the benefits of an
optimistic mindset.
Studies have shown thatoptimists tend to have a better
physical health, lower levels ofstress and a stronger immune
system.
They are more likely to takeproactive steps to solve
problems and are less likely tofall into states of learned
(03:40):
helplessness.
The reason is simple yourbrain's explanatory style, how
you explain the cause of goodand bad events in your life
directly impacts your mood andbehavior.
A pessimist often viewsnegative events as permanent,
(04:05):
pervasive and personal.
An optimist, however, sees thesame negative event as temporary
, specific and external Message.
This fundamental difference inperspective is the true engine
(04:25):
of optimism.
So what are the tangiblebenefits of cultivating this
mindset?
Why is it a superpower?
Well, for one one, it enhancesyour resilience.
(04:46):
Optimism acts as a bufferagainst life's and that of
inevitable setbacks.
Because optimist see challengesas temporary and specific, they
don't get stuck in a cycle ofdespair.
They are able to bounce backfaster from failures.
And when a project fails at work.
(05:08):
A pessimist might think I'm afailure and I'll never succeed.
An optimist might think theapproach didn't work.
What can I learn from this?
What?
Can I try?
next.
This resilience is a key tolong-term success in any field.
Being optimistic can improveyour problem solving.
(05:33):
An optimistic mindset is acreative mindset.
When you believe that asolution is possible, you are
more likely to seek it out.
Pessimism can be paralyzing,leading to inaction and feeling
stuck.
Optimism, on the other hand,provides the mental and
emotional energy to explore newideas, think outside the box and
(05:58):
take calculated risks.
Optimism also builds betterrelationships.
People are naturally drawn tothose who are hopeful and have a
positive outlook, and optimistscan be a source of
encouragement, support forfriends and loved ones,
strengthening social bonds andcreating a more positive
(06:22):
environment for everyone.
When you believe in people andtheir potential, they tend to
rise to the occasion.
However, don't let optimismmake you a fool.
More than likely people do notrise to the occasion and they
waste their potential and wasteour time.
(06:49):
We all know a couple people likethat.
They might actually be sittingright beside you.
Optimism can lead to increasedmotivation and action.
For an example, why would youput in any effort if you don't
believe it will lead to apositive outcome?
Optimism provides the crucialbelief that your actions matter.
(07:11):
It fuels persistence,encourages you to get out of bed
in the morning and inspires youto take on new challenges.
It's the internal drive thatsays I can do this.
It's the internal drive thatsays I can do this Without a
(07:32):
shadow of a doubt.
I can say being optimistic,having optimism, truly fucking
works.
It has definitely worked for me.
It has worked in situations inmy life where all I had was
optimism and two hundred dollarsfree a month after crippling
debt and stuff like that.
(07:53):
Um, I remember one point in timein my life where um all I had
to look forward to was thefuture, because what I was going
through currently was, I feltlike a failure for lack of
better words.
I did what all the young dumbmen do, and you know you moving
(08:19):
with your girlfriend at the time, y'all you know splitting the
bills and, and you knowsplitting the bills and fucking
and and trying to make it workright.
Stupid, uh.
and the reason why I say why,why I say young and dumb is
because now, if I could do thatover uh I would make sure I was
in a better situation to standon my two feet, and I think I've
(08:41):
talked about this in a priorpodcast.
But during that time yeah,during that time, you know,
we're sharing an apartment,we're sharing a life.
Quote unquote things go left anda hard left and, long story
short, I have no place to gobecause I can't afford what's
(09:06):
coming my way, which is billsand some more stuff.
So my mom graciously took meback in.
I'm back at home, I'm working ajob that I I'm working a job.
It's not really a career.
I see no future in this.
(09:28):
It's something to give me money.
I see no future in this.
It's something to give me money.
And I'm halfway in and out ofcollege at this point.
So yeah, hearing that a lot ofyou might think OK, doesn't
really sound too bad.
You have a job, yeah, you backat home.
But you know, get your weightup, get your money up, you'll be
good to go.
But you know, get your weightup, get your money up, you'll be
(09:50):
good to go.
But I ask you this how the helldo you do that when, knock,
knock, knock.
Now the IRS is knocking on yourdoor and saying, hey, you owe
us a lot of fucking money.
Good question.
And for a young college student, I don't know how much I owe,
but it was a lot and it wassomething I could not afford.
(10:12):
And also, mom wants you to kickin some money while you're
there.
Now of course I can't tell herlike, hey, uh, I owe the irs
some money and my shit is fuckedup, my money's fucked up.
Um, because you know, at thattime I'm feeling a little.
I'm feeling a littleembarrassed that I'm back at
(10:33):
home.
I don't know how to communicatewith that to my mom and she's
also asking for money and it'sjust kind of like all right, I
gotta figure out a way.
Optimism, that is all the.
That is the tool that I had.
I had to become resourcefulbecause I'm like yo.
People are in worse situationsthan I am in.
I've never been in thissituation, but I feel like I can
(10:55):
.
I can make my way out.
And I also told myself I'm likeyo, whatever plan I come up
with, the end goal is to neverhave to come back home.
It can't be some half measurewhere I just kind of get myself,
get my head above the water,just to move back out the house.
I need to have something.
(11:16):
I need to have something in mylife that's concrete, that this
is the baseline.
And if I ever had to go back tothe baseline, well, I need to.
I needed to create a, abaseline where my mom was not
the baseline and her house wasnot the baseline and me, you
know, may, needing to ask peoplefor money is not the baseline.
(11:37):
And if I can come up with that,I'll be good.
And I and you know, like I said, optimism is.
It's making me.
I'm trying to find a way.
I'm trying to find a way.
I'm trying to find a way.
I'm trying to find a.
I'm trying to find a way.
I'm trying to find a way.
I'm trying to find a way.
I'm trying to find a purpose.
I'm trying to see how I can seehow I can make a better life
(12:02):
for myself, for lack of a betterwords and the only thing that I
could come up with.
Well, there's two things duringthis time.
This is kind of give you some alittle bit of background info
to kind of show you howdifficult this might be, what
(12:27):
this was for me.
I was 22.
And during that time I were.
We're still going through therecession, so it wasn't like
jobs were plentiful, companieswasn't paying.
They're still not paying whatthey should be paying, but
that's neither here or there,but I'm dealing with that.
So it's it's.
(12:47):
I can't just easily and readilymake more money.
That's out of the uh question.
I could only get what I can get.
I can only get the job that Ican get.
I have no real hardcore skills.
I may not do, but I don't.
I had an associates in computerscience, but that wasn't
(13:08):
getting me anywhere.
I wasn't getting any looks orany.
No one was calling me back whenit came to employment.
So at that time I'm dealingwith my feelings towards not
(13:29):
being called back for jobs thatI apply for and granted, it is
an associates, but I'm thinkingsome type of entry-level job,
not getting any calls back fromthat.
I'm back at home with my mom.
I'm in a small room, uh, and Igot debt coming for me and the
(13:54):
only thing that I could think ofwas, like I said, get myself to
a new baseline.
And the new baseline, the wayto get there, was my education.
So I had to be serious about it, I had to be disciplined about
it.
I saw a light at the end of thetunnel.
(14:15):
But it wasn't.
It wasn't, it wasn't going tobe a cakewalk and without making
, without dragging on the story,um, I literally had to put
everything that I had towards my.
I had to do some financialmaneuvering.
I had to put everything that Ihad towards my dad to do some
financial maneuvering.
I had to put everything that Iworked for, like want to work
(14:40):
towards my debt that was comingin.
Thank goodness this job offeredtuition reimbursement, but I
couldn't pay for that outright.
Thank goodness I didn't fuck mycredit up, so my only saving
grace was pay for the stuff on acredit card.
(15:02):
Pay for your college classes ona credit card, because at this
point I'm going back for mybachelors.
Pay for that on a credit card soyou can invest in yourself to
get more money and study likehell so when you get the money
back from the company, you putthat back on a credit card and
(15:25):
that will grow your credit atthe same time while getting your
education and grow your creditat the same time while getting
your education.
And it was a slow, arduousprocess, like I didn't have a I
didn't have much of a sociallife during that time because I
didn't have any money.
I didn't have much of aromantic life at that time
(15:49):
because I didn't have any money.
So it was literally work andschool, work in school, work in
school.
And during that time I'm prettysure my friends felt a certain
type of way.
My mom couldn't understand whyI was always angry but it was
just like yo, or why I wasalways like not in the mood.
It's like this is some things Ijust gotta do, like I saw the
(16:12):
light at the end of the tunnel.
I'm being optimistic, but I'mI'm also.
I'm also, uh, coming to termswith what has to happen like
this is my only path.
I have to get out this house,not because I don't love my mom,
I just, I just don't want tostay there.
I had to get out of that houseand I had to be disciplined and
I didn't want anything to breakthat discipline, that, that
(16:35):
focus, because I knew, if it didand I fucked up again, that I
might be at that house forlonger than two, three years if
I can't get a better job ordevelop new skills, that this is
what it's going to be.
Um, but eventually the companythat I was working for I worked
(16:59):
my way up and I'm getting raises, I'm getting, uh, new positions
within the organization hereand there and with that, of
course, a bump in pay.
And I was starting to see it alittle bit more clearly.
I was able to kind of movearound a little bit more with
the money, not nothing crazy,but I'm, I'm, I'm being
(17:20):
optimistic, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'mputting in my head like yo, it's
only a certain amount of time.
It's only a certain amount oftime.
This, it's only a certainamount of time.
This is another month, anothermonth down, and unfortunately it
became like another year down,another year down.
I think I was at my mom's housefor a total.
I was in that situation at mymom's house for a total of three
(17:47):
years, maybe, maybe three tofour, but at the end of it all I
was able to do some greatthings.
I was able to get my bachelor's.
I was able to.
What do you believe in?
Yeah, I was able to get a job.
Uh, I was able to get a job.
(18:08):
I was able to get a job in ITFirst, real, real job in IT
proper.
And when I got that job, thatwas my baseline.
I knew that if I could justwork from this point out that
(18:29):
the baseline of what this is,even if I had to find another
job or something like that thatI am worth at least the minimum
that I got at this particularorganization and I'll be fine I
could make a living if I had tostart over you know if I had to
start over like right away, andI'm telling you that during
that time optimism is all I had.
(18:50):
I had that I had to beoptimistic.
I am not saying that you cannotbe optimistic.
Through the uh, through the manabove, he provides that and he
looks out for you and things ofthat nature, but you have to
believe.
But you have to believe and Ibelieved, I had an optimistic
(19:22):
faith about me and I would say Iwas able to do great things.
And I say all that to say thatoptimism truly, truly, truly
fucking works.
It's hard and there will bethings that come about, day
(19:46):
after day after day that be likeyou don't really need to be
doing this, You're going to fail.
And there's been times I've hadthat feeling, Literally times
I've had that feeling Heartburnin the chest, like I'm about to
fuck my life up again.
And you know, some of thelisteners I'm sure you guys are
thinking like you ain't reallyfucked your life up.
Everybody go home, everyone goesback home and leaves once or
(20:10):
twice.
I didn't know that at the timeIn my head I'm being I'm being
too hard on myself, like if Imoved out, like yo, I'm a man, I
did what I was supposed to do.
So in my head at the time,coming back home, felt like I
was being a failure.
But I also see thingsdifferently now.
(20:33):
But optimism is all I have.
Truly true optimism is notabout ignoring the darkness.
(20:54):
It's about being being thelight.
It's about choosing to believein your own capacity to navigate
the world with hope, resilienceand a positive expectation for
the future.
It's a mindset thatacknowledges the reality of
setbacks but refuses to bedefined by them.
(21:15):
By practicing a more realistic,grounded form of optimism, you
can build your resilience,improve your relationships.
You can build your resilience,improve your relationships and
unlock a more peaceful andpowerful version of yourself.
Thank you for joining me on theAccordion of West podcast until
(21:40):
next time.
remember, you are not yourcircumstances, you are your
response to them.
Choose to be optimistic you.
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