optimist — The Dating Optimist

Posts Tagged ‘optimist’

A Gleeful Reminder

Friday, September 18th, 2009

People have been talking about the new show Glee so much (Wednesdays on FOX), I had to check it out. I am, after all, a former Glee Club member myself. Of course, we had to stand on bleachers in polyester red gowns when we sang “Eye of the Tiger” in six-part harmony. These kids have style.

Rachel (played by Lea Michele) celebrated their style (Image: Hulu/Fox)

Rachel (played by Lea Michele) knows what's special

Anyway, the show? Adorge. It’s an optimistic little story about some high-school outcasts with big hearts and beautiful voices (um, can we talk about the pipes on Amber Riley who plays Mercedes?!) who don’t get any respect from the sporty types at school. On this week’s “Acafellas” episode, the club hired a choreographer to create some contest-winning moves, but all he did was viciously call them various forms of useless. Just as they were about to quit, Rachel (who’d been told her nose was too big) stopped them with this: (more…)

Tags: acafellas, Glee, optimist, surviving set-backs
Posted in Being yourself, It's on TV, Optimisms | 4 Comments »

What’s the Upside? The Tale of the “Halo”

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

My friend Brandon had a skiing accident some time ago that knocked his neck around and left him in a clunky metal “halo” that was screwed into his skull, its huge metal arms resting on his shoulders to keep his head from moving a millimeter. And it made him stand out in a crowd in a very Joan-Cusack-in-Sixteen Candles kind of way…

Can you find the upside to this?

Not that Brandon expected the attention, mind you. The first morning he went outside in public, he pulled on a pair of shorts and said, “Oh man, I’m so pale, do you think I’m going to look stupid?” We had to remind him, “Um, Brandon? They’re not gonna be looking at your legs….” (more…)

Tags: Brandon, Mad Men, optimist, Sixteen Candles, the upside, you can control your attitude
Posted in Being yourself, In the big wild world, Optimisms | 3 Comments »

11 Ways Being Single Beats Being In a Relationship!

Friday, September 11th, 2009

When I was single, I spent a lot of time comparing how much better my life would be when I had someone in it: that I’d have someone to cuddle on the couch with, to kiss on New Year’s, to travel and eat and talk with. But, guess what? Being single has a heck of a lot of perks, too! Like the “tastes great, less filling” beer debate, there is no right answer, and if you’re looking at what’s in your glass right now, you may realize it’s fuller than you thought.

If you're single, you have plenty to leap about!

If you want a relationship, I’m all for it, and I think you should focus on the one you want in order to bring it into your life. I just don’t think you should get so caught up in hoping for the future that you forget to enjoy the fantab life you have now! After all, when you’re single… (more…)

Tags: first kiss, glad, optimist, TiVo, what you're doing right now
Posted in In the big wild world, Optimisms | 3 Comments »

An Incurable Optimist Has Dating Advice, Too

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

Michael J. Fox has a new book out, called Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist, and he’s been appearing on TV to promote it recently. He said something on Oprah a few weeks ago that I haven’t stopped thinking about since.

I’m paraphrasing here, but what he said on that episode was essentially: “You can’t choose everything that happens to you, but you can choose how you respond to it.” In Michael’s case, he was talking about how he can’t control his Parkinson’s Disease, but he can control how he feels when he eats breakfast, or meets new people, or thinks about his condition. Well, in a much less physical way, you can think about your singleness and dating the same way.

No, you may not have “that someone” in your life right now, and you may not feel you can control that. (I beg to differ, and will tell you how to completely take back control in my book.) But one thing you can control right now is your attitude. You can control if you smile or not today, if you decide to go on that blind date or not, and if you decide to gain something positive from having drinks with a new guy…or not. The next time you feel helplessly bummed the heck out, look for a minute at what you can control. Your singleness is not a be-all, end-all. It’s a temporary state of being. So change how you feel about it today—just today—and realize that your happiness and future really is in your hands.

Big love,