According to the rah-rah literature, “this is a day where the world can be an Optimist themselves in action, plus join us in honoring Optimist Clubs and Members in their communities and worldwide for all they do year-round to promote efforts in bringing out the best in youth, our communities, and ourselves.”

Grammar issues and random acts of capitalization notwithstanding, I always thought it was kind of funny that optimists would need a club—if you’re an optimist, don’t you figure everything will work out, regardless of who’s with you? And the activities suggested for Optimist Day seem like ones that would not focus on fencing optimists off from others: Spread positivity, volunteer, host an event like a blood drive, park clean-up, or tree planting. But I guess there’s a club for everything, so why not?

I am not a member of this club, but I do think I’m generally optimistic. I wouldn’t say I assume good faith in the actions of others, but I do tend to assume stupidity before I assume malice, so that counts for something, right? Maybe this is what comes of being a yes person raised in a no environment. (Name that movie—it’s one of my favorites!)

Oddly, my mom was one of the most negative people I was ever around when I was growing up. She has mellowed quite a bit, but the basics remain: Nothing is ever quite as good as she wants, nobody else is quite as capable as she is of doing whatever she wants done, nothing lasts and no place is perfect. Counterintuitively, this makes her one of the most optimistic people I know because she keeps expecting things and people to surprise her and meet her expectations. And occasionally, someone comes close and she’s very enthusiastic in her reactions.

I tend to go the other way. I am always extremely upbeat in the beginning—this will be great! You will be great!—and then I deflate as setbacks occur. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t just curl up and quit at the first sign of difficulty. I still believe things will get done and probably done well, but it’s hard for me to keep up the initial enthusiasm. I tend to sigh, grit my teeth, nod, and drag others with me rather than staging a pep rally to lift their spirits. This has cost me friendships in the past when people misunderstood that my version of support had morphed from positive thinking to determination. I don’t blame them; I’m not sure I would like me either if I was not results-oriented.

And then there is my kid. Once upon a time I would have called him a pessimist, but he’s another one of those who perseveres. His way is to start low and end high.  “This is going to be a disaster…. OK, maybe not a total disaster … hey, that was all right! Let’s try something else!” And then he reverts to “Oh, no, that will be a disaster.”

I’m not sure which version of optimism is the healthiest, or the most effective. What’s your version? How does it work for you?