Let's begin with an almighty congratulations to myself for posting on time, and not only on time but having written this in advance yesterday (which for me right now is actually today which all makes it a little confusing. Imagine if tomorrow never comes then what? Shut up Martha).
I live with some of my favourite people in the world, two welshies and one Yeovillian (and occasionally a Cornwallian from next door) and as odd of a combination that that is it works very well. However being in such close proximity with the people that I love and a clashing of accents can sometimes cause arguments and, you guessed it, I shall tell you about one now.
Last night we were playing the terrifying game of 'what will we do when we finish uni?' Now I have always been pretty sure about my future it goes something like- uni-internship-minor journalist job-freelancer-work at Elle-take Lorraine Candy's job-BOOM. Nice and easy. However two of my flatmates were trying to coerce me into their business plan to start a Cafe. Starting a cafe doesn't not fit into my own little business plan of becoming editor and chief of Elle magazine so I politely declined.
(If my job involved standing next to Tom Ford my life would be complete, Sam Cam however, you would have to pay me)
This polite decline was met by impolite words of indignanty because I would not offer up my skills as a writer to help start a cafe (make note- an amateur journalist is what is required these days in order to start a catering business). My welsh flatmate described to me that, as passionate as I may be about my future career, I need to be a realist. That's when I pulled out my fail safe speech, courtesy of J.M. Barrie, of how I believed in myself and in life everything is made up of 'faith, trust and pixie dust' to which she replied 'well a career in journalism is only to be met with dirty dishes, a scabby flat and no job'.
(I do love a disney gif)
This was followed by a ferocious row and a comparison of what would be more economically viable, a column or a cupcake? Which then lead onto reminiscing about great cupcakes of our past and before we knew it we were mates again.
In light of all this I couldn't help but think about optimism vs pessimism. In having such a blind faith in my future am I being an optimist or simply a fool who will surely have all there dreams dashed. In life is it better to be a moronic optimist who will wind up disappointed or a pessimist who forever assumes the worst but may sometime be surprised?
(for optimistic geeks)
I feel as though this blog is long overdue following my recent posts of my resent of the fashion and blogging industry. I was beginning to feel as though I ought to just start applying for box manufacturing jobs as we speak. I have never been sure where I stand on the glass-half-full/ half-empty scenario as I myself am the love child of Pollyanna and Grumpy the Dwarf (I am often teased about my pigtail and beard combo) and have inevitably ended up a funny mix of both and most likely have some kind of personality disorder. (I like to think my gift for blogging strives from this light hearted humour with a cynical touch).
(You can totes see where I get my good looks)
No one would ever admit they are a pessimist, because lets face it a pessimist is Latin for kill joy. Pessimists themselves tend to use the code word 'realist' which makes any optimistic look like they haven't thought things through and allows pessimists to get away with the saying 'try not to get too excited about it'.
My Pollyanna mother bought me up to the tune of don't stop thinking about tomorrow (quite literally, Fleetwood Mac was on loop) and that the secret of a happy life was having things to look forward to. Only to be followed by Grumpy Dad's speech of don't set your heart on it because it probably won't happen.
(Though sometimes I feel as though old Fleetwood Mac weren't all that chirpy)
Having this attitude has often rendered me immobile before an exciting prospect because I'm stung with the fear that perhaps it won't turn out as wonderful as I hoped.
It is times like these that we can only look to Pocahontas to reassure us about being optimistic. She was just a small town girl (living in a lonely world) just like you or I. She had greater ambitions than that of those around her, she didn't want to chose the smoothest course and she didn't want to marry Kocoum (shocker I had to google the spelling of that bad boy) she wanted to go around the river bend and good on her. She suffered some hard times along her chosen path like the time her boyf faced being bludgeoned to death by her own father (and lets face it we've all been there) but she remained optimistic and everything turned out OK in the end (as proven in the sequel Pocahontas 2: Journey to a new world, such a good watch).
(Personally I think these two should have got together, would have saved a lot of hassle)
And this thinking can probably be applied to any of your favourite films whether that is Blades of Glory 'if you can dream it you can do it' or Django (I've not seen it yet but I'm sure it has a positive ending being Quentin Tarantino).
(Is there anything in life I can't relate back to Disney?)
So write that article, bake those cupcakes, open that star wars themed burlesque joint (a real place please google) because if you fail you can optimistically learn from your mistakes and optimistically remain optimistic that something better will come along. It will all turn out all right in the end.
Furthermore if you can't ever see the good in the world then what on earth is there worth living for (please let this blog not promote the idea that there isn't anything worth living for).
(The Empire Strips Back- can't take credit for that joke, be a bit concerned if I could)
In conclusion it is worth being an optimist and having a little belief in yourself and your ability. I'm sure that at one point the Storm Trooper stripper couldn't sleep at night worrying about whether she was portraying the role authentically enough and now look at her!
If you need any extra inspiration then just log into your pinterest account and search 'optimism' and you will surely be bombarded with sickenling optimistic quotes (see, there is my sarcasm). If you don't have a Pinterest account then your life probably isn't worth living anyway.
