Managing stress with optimism means adopting a positive outlook and attitude in life when facing a challenging situation. Individuals who are optimistic view these situations as temporary and they also remind themselves of the difficulties they’ve successfully overcome in the past. Different studies have shown the impact of optimism on depression, anxiety, and even physical health conditions.
The Managing Stress with Optimism Handout provides clients with guidance on maintaining an optimistic perspective. First, it introduces research on the topic — how optimism helps and how an optimist behaves. Next, it lists 9 ways to embrace it, such as starting a gratitude journal and using positive affirmations.
Exercising optimism reduces distress in a person’s daily life and helps with emotional regulation. If you need more examples of positive affirmations as one of the exercises for a child or teen to try daily — we recommend checking out our Daily Affirmations poster.
This handout can be found in our 39-page Stress Management Handouts Bundle, which includes many stress relief strategies, and helpful information on managing stress.
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References:
- Conversano, C., Rotondo, A., Lensi, E., Della Vista, O., Arpone, F., & Reda, M. A. (2010b). Optimism and its impact on Mental and Physical Well-Being. Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health, 6(1), 25–29. https://doi.org/10.2174/1745017901006010025
- Laranjeira, C., & Querido, A. (2022). Hope and optimism as an opportunity to improve the “Positive mental health” demand. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.827320
