Humanity was a mistake. We’re doomed. The world is on fire. We’re past saving. I have uttered these phrases more times than I’d like to admit and read them online even more often. Extreme pessimism, disguised as realism, has taken over the internet. An entire generation of young adults has been bombarded with the idea that they’re inheriting an irrevocably fucked up, unfixable world and that the existence of their very species is a mistake during their sensitive formative years. It’s no wonder youth mental health issues are through the roof.

I recently finished reading Catching Fire, the second book in Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games series. As the story now stands, citizens from all over the fictional nation of Panem are staging a revolt against the country’s tyrannical, fascist government that has ruled with an iron fist for the past 75 years. The characters spent much of the book arguing back and forth about whether a revolution was even possible given the Capitol’s strength and might. However, after a televised act of solidarity between tributes from each of the nation’s 12 districts, the sparks of revolution were ignited nationwide. Despite the terrible conditions of poverty and starvation (or maybe because of them), the citizens of Panem had hope that life could be better — and that a better life was worth fighting for.

Unfortunately, our brains are hardwired to be pessimistic and remember negative experiences more easily than positive ones. This serves an important evolutionary function, of course: keeping us alive and helping us avoid dangers that we’ve previously encountered. It also has the unintended side effect of making some of us prone to misery.

News broadcasting agencies and social media platforms are well aware of this fact. They bombard us with negative stories that hijack our attention and negatively color our views of the world in exchange for corporate advertising dollars. Anything to increase viewing hours and screen time.

The truth is, despite what the headlines would have you believe, a lot of things are getting better over time. Challenges that have plagued humanity for years are being rectified. Fewer people die of infectious disease and starvation than ever before, and millions of people escape extreme poverty each year.

Yes, we still have a long way to go. Millions still live in extreme poverty, and without addressing climate change and economic inequality, many people — especially those in the Global South — will suffer needlessly. But, we have a blueprint for change. We know what works. Many climatologists, agricultural scientists, and other experts agree that we already have the technology to solve some of our most pressing problems. We just need the financial and policy backing to put those strategies into action.

You may be reading this essay and wondering, “Okay, that’s nice and all, but what the hell does this have to do with optimism?” Multiple studies have shown that optimism — a positive outlook and the belief that things will work out in the end — inspires action. “Optimistic people exert effort, whereas pessimistic people disengage from effort.¹”

This is because our beliefs influence our behaviors and emotions. If you believe that we’re cooked and there’s nothing we can do, then you’re more likely to sit at home being an edgelord on internet forums. If you believe that things can improve in the future, you’re more likely to take action that moves you closer to your desired state.

Optimism is also linked with better health, greater career success, and social relationships.² Our brains strive to prove us right regardless of objective truth, and if we have the belief that good things can and will happen in the world, we’re more likely to be moved to take positive actions.

Luckily for us, we’re not permanently confined to our current thinking patterns. Thanks to neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to grow and change based on experience, we can train ourselves to be more optimistic. Yes, even you. There are two ways to build optimism: individually and collectively.

Because our personal beliefs are partially a function of our greater culture, one way to to help individuals become more optimistic is to build more optimistic communities. We can do this through music and art, community gatherings, and having optimistic conversations with our neighbors.

Another way to increase optimism is to focus on strengthening your own personal optimism muscles. You can do this by noticing and challenging pessimistic thoughts when they occur, practicing gratitude, and even visualizing ourselves living our ideal lives for five minutes a day.³

When I speak of grounded optimism, I don’t mean the toxic positivity that masquerades as optimism in many online spaces. Toxic positivity encourages emotional bypassing, magical thinking, and disconnecting from the reality of life’s difficulties. I’m not asking anyone to cover shit with glitter and pretend it’s gold.

Rather, I’d like to encourage a type of optimism that is grounded in reality. One that allows you to look at challenges head-on while maintaining a positive outlook. I have a tattoo on my wrist that reads “everythingoes.” It’s the title of one of my favorite songs and serves as a reminder that nothing is permanent. Even the most painful experiences come to an end, and we get to decide whether we’ll find the lessons in the pain or not.

A question that often pops up in conversations about optimism is, “Isn’t optimism a privilege?” This is typically followed by invoking images of starving children in Africa or oppressed women in India, saying that surely we can’t expect them to be optimistic.

I disagree. If anything, from where I stand, pessimism is a privilege. The people who are suffering the most, who are in the direst situations, who are struggling to meet their basic needs are often forced to be the most resilient and to believe in their ability to enact positive change in the world just to make it through the day. Otherwise, they would just give up. I don’t say this to glorify suffering as some character-building exercise. I say this because I’ve witnessed it with my own eyes, time and time again.

The first step to enacting change is to believe that change is possible. Only then can we begin to ask ourselves, with hope instead of nihilism:

Yours in grounded optimism,

Mina

P.S. This week’s newsletter was inspired by an episode of the Harvard Thinking podcast titled “The case for optimism.” Check it out on YouTube below!