what is optimism

nothing can stop us now ask me how i know! truth is i don’t. 

i just say these things to seem like a positive and optimistic person, or “normal” as everyone calls it. in my younger days i would be myself, which is the opposite, and i was called weird A LOT. 

it always made me wonder about the concept of self esteem and how it relates to happiness. it also made me wonder what normal was. i felt like everyone was just turning a blind eye to the angst and pain known as the teenage years. why does positivity equal normalcy? 

why do we hide pain? 

why do we “stay in character” even when its hard not to? we get told all our lives to be ourselves while still having to stay in this “normalcy” criteria. which consists of happy faces, optimism almost to a point naivety, and just overall upbeat-ness when honestly there’s not a lot to be grateful about in the grand scheme of things in the year 2021.

 maybe I’m just depressed. 

maybe I’m just rambling but either way, we should be free to express our sad feelings without being labeled as “weird” or any other pronoun for people who aren’t as optimistic on a regular basis.