You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

Hey, it's Mariel.

You ever have somebody say to you, just be positive when you're right in the middle of an impossibly hard life moment and it made you want to just punch them in the face.

Well, I'm not trying to get punched.

So today, we are not talking about positivity.

We're talking about optimism. The two words that really come clear to mind when I'm thinking of

optimism is resiliency and curiosity. Deepika Chopra is a behavioral scientist with a doctorate

in clinical health psychology, and her new book is called The Power of Real Optimism.

Now, she says people tend to equate optimism with toxic positivity, and they say an optimist in today's world must either be naive or ignoring reality.

But when Deepka talks about optimistic people, she means the ones who are aware of setbacks and roadblocks.

But they see these things as temporary and something that they can overcome, even if they don't know how or when.

But they know they can because that's based on their own personal historical resiliency.

So, quick tip. When you're looking for a shred of optimism in a tough because it's based on their own personal historical resiliency.

So, quick tip.

When you're looking for a shred of optimism in a tough time,

remember, you can make it through this because you've made it through every single one of your hardest days to date.

That's a fact that Deepika clung to when her world turned upside down a few years ago.

My middle son, who at the time was two and a half, got handed this very earth-shattering medical diagnosis,

and it was the darkest time of my life.

Her son was in treatment for a year and a half.

I mean, there were many months where I hid underneath my office desk and cried and said, I cannot do this.

Like, I can't do this.

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