241 Pizza

I start to see a common thread in my encounters. Optimism is not about the future and it’s not about the news: it’s in my power. It’s about how I react to events, the moment they occur. It’s in the mind. The real optimists, the people I admire the most, have a set of beliefs and routines for reacting that keeps them happy and alive.

And yet, after two years of interviews, I still find myself waking in a fog. I still stew in envy when I think about Richard Branson, who tells me that he really does spring, freshly minted, from his bed every day at 6am. Or Lynn, a multiple sclerosis patient who confides that she loves every minute of her life. Meanwhile, I still wake with a cloud over my head and the vague feeling that there is something amiss.

The missing piece in the puzzle comes when I travel to Johannesburg to meet Taddy Blecher, a young South African who left his job as a highly paid consultant to start a business school for underprivileged kids. The man’s undistilled confidence, his absolute optimism about humanity and its potential, are so inspiring that I can feel my skin literally fizzing as I listen… That’s what I am looking for. That’s what these optimists have in common. A sense of purpose. A meaning bigger than ourselves and our own little concerns.

I return to London determined to remember Taddy’s words about optimism and the rush of excitement that comes with believing in the world. I start to feel a sense of possibility about my future, something I don’t remember for years, possibly since my childhood. But it is only when I listen to Bill Clinton at a crowded fundraiser in Greenwich that it all comes together. “Think about it!” he says. “We organise our minds to obsess about things that don’t amount to a hill of beans. You be free now!”

Today, I still consult for companies; today, I still stare at the ceiling as I blink myself awake, wondering where to get the energy I need for my day. But now – three years after I first had the idea for the book – optimism has become something very simple for me. It’s like Bill said: I can make a choice. Indulge the worries of my obsessive mind, or simply let them go. Now I make that choice every day of my life.

I’m still curious about Georg, though. When I finally get around to asking him what he thinks about it all, as I queue for my tea, there is a twinkle in his eye. “You just stay happy,” he smiles, spinning a china plate. “And then you make everyone else happy too!”

The Optimist: One Man’s Search for the Brighter Side of Life by Laurence Shorter is published by Canongate on January 22 and is available from BooksFirst priced £9.89 (RRP £10.99), free p&p, on 0870 1608080; timesonline.co.uk/booksfirst

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