From the book ‘The Resilience Factor’ by Karen Reivich & Andrew Shatte (p.40 & p.56)
“Resilient people are optimistic. They believe that things can change for the better. They have hope for the future and believe that they control the direction of their lives.” “Realistic optimism is the ability to maintain a positive outlook without denying reality, actively appreciating the positive aspects of a situation without ignoring the negative aspects. It means aspiring and hoping for positive outcomes, and working toward those outcomes, without assuming that those outcomes are a foregone conclusion. Realistic optimism does not assume that good things will happen automatically. It is the belief that good things may happen and are worth pursuing but that effort, problem solving, and planning are necessary to bring them about.”
Being realistically optimistic means you believe better results will arrive if you work hard and make an effort to achieve. You will find a solution if things don’t work out as you hoped for.