The way of the reckless optimist

In my journey along life’s precarious highway I’ve encountered the lot – hairpin bends, near collisions, long, winding, boring, scenic, plain ugly, rural and urban routes. If life is a journey then I’m prose in motion.

I’ve always veered towards optimism….don’t ask me why….since my life has been anything but. Difficulties are my life long buddies. In fact, when I’m trundling along “happily” that’s when the greatest challenges hit….and I have slain and conquered a great many of them.

When I say “happily” you’ll have to read that with a shovel of salt. Happiness to some degree has been tinged with a mixture of  melancholy, ignorance and aiming low.

R.O. motto

I used to be happy when I was underachieving. I used to be happy when I got left behind. I used to be happy when I experienced love as a painful and bitter state. I used to be happy when I faced rejection. I used to be happy when I trusted the untrustworthy. I’ve been “happy” with a heart full of lead. Basically, I was “happy” with disappointment and despair. How else could I have coped?

I’ve been rolling along the highway gathering a heap of insecurities, misconceptions and emotional baggage that now requires a highly skilled bomb disposal unit to make safe. Psychically speaking, I’ve been attacked. When it’s said that man is the most dangerous animal, you’d better believe it.

es, I’ve made really good friends and excellent frenemies….those people who come into your life posing as “friends”. They take pleasure in your trials and are secretly jealous of your triumphs. Life’s highway is scattered them and they’re as tough as any hard shoulder. Yet, they haven’t got the better of me. I’ve grappled, wrestled and pummelled with my demons and am winning this little war, albeit with a few battle scars.

I’m no misanthrope though. No matter how dark life I find, in the famous words of Camus: “in the midst of winter, I found within me an invincible summer”.

Courage is the fire that warms you and voices long buried feelings – sometimes – when its appropriate. Wisdom knows when words can’t make peace and it leaves well alone.

A reckless optimist, as I was and continue to be, approaches the same problem in the same way and expects different results….or is that just a stupid optimist! This formula for failure is found on the road most travelled and it’s a poor travel experience.

My gut feeling is that there are no mistakes, just opportunities for learning. The pain of learning (that lasts a long time) and the joy of a lesson learned is an eternal blessing.

I see the glass as half full as I never want to be empty. I am the vessel and I don’t take make a lot of noise! Looking on the bright side costs nothing and makes me feel light. I am the light and the light is in me.

My outer life is reaping the rewards of inner enlightenment. I don’t dwell so much on flaws (as there are no mistakes) and feel more than a little of the contentment that comes to rest on my shoulder now and again.

Recklessness gets a bad rap. Irresponsible, wild, though-less, uncontrolled, hasty, and heed-less. Yup, it’s all those things and I’ve been judged as doing all or some of them. My life couldn’t have moved in a productive direction if I hadn’t indulged in a little wildness.

Looking at life in an optimistic light

When I was over-responsible, thoughtful, controlled, cautious and heedful I felt dead inside. More than often I was manipulated into these conditions by others who profited from my zeal and vigour.
All I ever did was take care of business – theirs and mine. I was strapped into a straitjacket of anguish and needless suffering. 

I don’t care about the state of the world. I don’t watch or read too much of gloomy news. Interest rate increases, inflation and GDP, though they affect my budget, can’t deflate my buoyant spirit.
I smile at my reflection often. I laugh out loud. I allow joy to course through my veins and gratitude to flood my mind.

I don’t worry about what will become of my children. I know they are each unique and will grow into the fullness of their destiny.

If success is a state of mind then a reckless optimist is well on the way to it. Believing that your needs (and some of your wants) are going to be taken care of is the mindset of a spiritual warrior (even when reality paints a bleak picture).

Thoughts are things so perhaps the optimist is not so reckless. A sunny mind and a glad heart makes for a peaceful soul. Happiness is needing nothing as everything comes in its own good time and what you miss out on….is..... for a reason.

Wisdomona's view

Don’t pick at your soul searching for the reason. It may not be the right time for revelation.

 If everything has a rhyme and reason there’d be no mystery. Mystery is anathema to monotony.

 Do you want a safe life or an adventurous one?  If you’re looking for adventure then reckless optimism is THE way.