Maudy and Optimism

In the past few days, my social media timelines and conversations around me revolved around Maudy Ayunda. And unlike any other chit-chats on the life of celebrities, this time was something very positive. She was admitted into Harvard and Stanford for her graduate study. This caught me off guard, not because I undermined her chances of going there, but her willingness of going there.

She was already privileged, and already had anything that she could ever wanted.

What striked me the most is that she doesn’t feel complacent about her life at all. A life that other people might dream of. She already had a world-class bachelor’s degree from Oxford University, established herself as one of the leading singer and actress in Indonesia, and even her image of being a public figure were showered with flowers.

What is she trying to achieve? I don’t know, probably something noble and important.

It is very common for people who had already achieved so much as Maudy, to settle down, to enjoy life, to gain more fame, probably. But she chose something that is less tangible and vaguely more long term; getting an education. An education, the best one the world can offer her.

And let’s stop talking about the privilege that she already had, and let’s not discount the hard work that she had put in achieving all of these. Let’s talk about ourselves. We, as people who aren’t as privileged as she is, and as people who haven’t achieved even a small bite of what she had, must keep on being optimistic. The gap that we need to close, betwen what we are now and what we are capable of, is still very wide. We need to work way way harder, and we need to think way way smarter.

I am optimistic about what my life will be. Not because I am naiive. Not because being optimistic is easy. But because, in a strictly utilitarian sense, being optimistic actually benefits me. It made me see a better path ahead of me. It made my life more bearable, even enjoyable. It made me try things that I wouldn’t even dare, had I been more negative towards my life. I was an optimists, and it had served me well.

I don’t see the value of being a skeptic or of being a person who always say the negative aspects of things.

Of course, being optimistic is not the same as being delusional. I need to be aware about myself, and be fully rational about what’s possible and what’s not.

And then it comes to people. In my life, at least recently, it is much more fulfilling to be circled with people who don’t constantly make me think that I am not good enough, to have friends who spreads positivity around me, liften up my mood, and slow down my heart beat.

Positivity. Optimism. A peace of mind. Will probably lead me to places I aspire to be, just like Maudy’s.