I am an optimist. I see the good in all things and people, and ever since I became an optimist, my life has changed for the better. Every morning I wake up with a sense of gratitude for the opportunities to succeed and the challenges that I will face during my day to grow.

Being grateful for hardships has taught me to look at challenges and struggles in a different light. Instead of viewing a struggle as a bump in the road, I view them as a direction toward my greater goal. Think about it. When we get lost, the lessons we learn from the hardship redirects us in the right direction.

Failing a test can actually be a good thing if you look at it in a different perspective. Instead of looking at it as a failure, look at it as you now know what you can improve on to do better next time.

Another thing that has made me an optimist is the understanding that everyone has struggles and challenges. This has made me look at people in a different light. If someone is rude to me, I think, “Well maybe they are having a bad day.”

I have my bad days and sometimes during those bad days, I might not treat people the way I should. Nothing major, but in a sense of daily manners and respect. When we develop a sense of compassion and understanding toward other people and their struggles, we start to not get so offended when someone is rude to us. We will start to brush off rude comments and not let them get to us.

Another part of being optimistic is appreciating nature and its beauty. I look at the physical world in a different way. Instead of hating the rain, I think of the rain as a calming and regenerating type of weather.

I pay attention to flowers, trees, grass and the sky, and realize how the world is truly beautiful. Because we see the sky and grass every day, sometimes we do not recognize how gorgeous they are. Stopping to appreciate the beauty in the mundane parts of nature has cleared my mind and made me a happier person.

In my time on this earth, I realized that any situation, no matter how difficult it may seem, can be viewed in a positive light. When we start to see this light, our lives become happier, positive and motivating.

Having compassion toward others strengthens both us and others, and if every person on this earth had a strong sense of compassion, the world would be an even better place than it is now. Lastly, having an aesthetic for nature cultivates our mind and makes us realize that we do not need fancy phones and computers to make us happy when this beautiful earth is right in front of us. I am grateful that I am an optimist.