We students know that the birds begin to sing around 4:00 a.m.

With endless nights, stiff shoulders, and that science test you spent all night preparing for, being a student is far from easy. School places academic expectations on students, society teaches negative ideas of failure, and people push social pressures. 

As we head into the new year, some of us can already feel the heat of competition and the incoming stress – which are most certainly not welcoming. High school can seem like a block of brick, containing anxious, competitive and stressed students – an image that is equally not welcoming. 

The American culture itself is swollen with pessimism. In 2017, a survey claimed that only a puny six percent of Americans believed the world is improving. In fact, as many as 49 percent of high school students claim to feel stressed – an eye-opening number that proves how much stress and negativity is dominating students’ lives. 

Yet these numbers do not just stand alone. From watching a news report about a school shooting to being in an unhealthy relationship, pessimism comes from American culture itself. Almost everything radiates negativity, from an advertisement urging you to lose weight, to competition between students, to bills that are waiting to be paid on your desk.

So what is pessimism, exactly, and how do we fix it? Pessimism is the tendency to exaggerate the negativity in reality. It is the fear of, and worry of the future and it creates those “what-if” situations. What if I don’t get into college? What if I humiliate myself in front of my class?

Optimism, on the other hand, is often misunderstood. Optimism is not the same as smiling all day or being overly joyful. Instead, it is the ability to realistically work past a problem and to strive toward your goal.

Some think that pessimism is what motivates us to avoid those future problems we are worrying about. Yet with optimism, we are left with more confidence to achieve a desired outcome, such as getting a decent grade on a final or making a new friend in class. Optimism fuels us to achieve new goals at the next level, and it doesn’t instill anxiety into our lives. 

Optimism also offers a more productive method of approaching challenges. Rather than pulling out your hair over a math problem and giving up, positivity keeps us open to finding solutions, like speaking with a teacher. As stressed high school students imprisoned by today’s political, corporate and societal negativity – and as the literal future of the country – it is important to conquer pessimism. 

There are three simple ways to achieve an optimistic mindset. According to psychiatrists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, the first way is to spend less time on social media and watching the news. Seeing other people’s seemingly perfect lives can degrade one’s self confidence, which would then lead to seeing the negative in their own life. Too often, the news covers gloomy stories about political flaws, crimes, and scandals; it is rare to see a positive and kind world through a news network. The negativity we see on television and on our phones can only increase pessimism in our daily lives. 

A second option is to write in a journal every day about the overlooked positive things in life. Whether it is something as small as waking up before your alarm or saying hello to your favorite teacher, record and reflect on positive and gratifying experiences of your day. These notes can improve your outlook on life, as well as bring you closer to optimism, confidence, and good health.

The last option is to meet new people with optimistic personalities. Just like how a friend’s mannerisms can rub onto you, their emotions can also influence you. Pessimistic company will expose more negativity into your daily life. Optimistic company will release positive energy. Having someone optimistic around you will naturally curb your pessimistic instinct. This doesn’t have to mean cutting connections with your pessimistic friends – it simply means expanding your network a bit; maybe you can inspire optimism in your friends’ lives as well. 

We students overlook so many things in our little worlds. With homework, tests, friends, and social media crowding our lives, it is extremely easy to ignore a beautiful sunset, the small spray of a tangerine after peeling it all at once, the smell of coffee in the morning, or the discovery of your favorite movie just beginning to play on television. 

Next time you’re up at 4:00 a.m. studying for that science test, it might be nice to take a break and listen to the birds just waking up.