I like to think of myself as an optimist.

Even my dating profile acknowledges it. I read once that your dating profile should show your edges. I guess it’s true — I’d like to know if you’re vegan or dislike the glass half full.

Sometimes optimism feels as natural as the crisp breeze and a favorite song in your headphones.

Other times, it’s like you’ve been snapped back into reality after a lovely dream. Resigned to the reality of the world, caught in the innocence of what was, but salty enough to feel like I know better.

Florence says it well.

Oh, and you in all your vibrant youth
How could anything bad ever happen to you?
You make a fool of death with your beauty, and for a moment
I forget to worry

HUNGER — FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE

SONGWRITERS: EMILE HAYNIE / FLORENCE WELCH / THOMAS WAYLAND BARTLETT / TOBIAS JESSO

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But that’s the trap isn’t it? Instead, the discomfort of leaning into the beautiful unknown of what if, leaning over the high dive to glance at our reflection and be forced to reckon with what we see, we cap our joy in an effort to assuage our disappointment and instead belly flop into our own predictable patterns.

The world is out to get us, true. But not in the way we think.

Personal fundamental truth 1: The universe is conspiring for you (because it’s your universe — or reality — babe).

Personal fundamental truth 2: You are exactly where you are supposed to be. Dissatisfied? What is the lesson you should be learning about yourself in this moment? Reflect and shift.

When we put up the wall, willing to assume the world is out to get us, sure we might protect ourselves from some of the pain of reality, but what we’re really missing (I think) is the full expression of our lives.

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Prompt: How might I be more honest with myself, my perceptions, or my expectations to understand my discomfort or dissatisfaction?

I hate to be thought of as naive, or a fool, but in the fine words of Jocelyn, of A Knight’s Tale fame.

“Better a silly girl with a flower than a silly boy with a horse and a stick.”

JOCELYN — A KNIGHT’S TALE (2001)

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So, we let it be as it may. Because sure, we could argue semantics, but when I think of the way I show up to my life, I want it to be with rose colored glasses.

Or we could talk about it in the context of Brené Brown’s research on vulnerability.

Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weakness.

BRENÉ BROWN — DARING GREATLY

Hopefully life isn’t too short, but I’d rather not wait around to find out.

I’ll be deep breathing in wings with everyone else, aiming to take a big enough breath of faith to keep walking out on stage night after night.

The show must go on.

Or in the words of Freddy Mercury, “I’ll fucking do it, darling.”

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