Optimism

What does it mean to be an optimist? What is it like to look at the world and see not just hope, but possibility?

Yeah, we don't know either. I guess we'll never know.

KIDDING... kidding, of course. But here's the interesting thing: It turns out optimism is much more complicated than we ever imagined -- and it's precisely because it is so much more than just being blindly good-natured all the time.

So this week, Tommy brings you a story of the dark side of optimism, one that ends in a crushing, embarrassing blow to his ego, and his back. And Pete comes with scales and stuff. It's like math, and he talks about it with the same level of understanding that he brings to his math studies. That is to say, you might have to work extra hard to understand what the hell he is talking about.

Also, there's a chance he brings up "Building Information Modeling" but fails to mention that he's actually talking about "Building Information Modeling" as he is talking about it.

But don't worry: the punchline of this whole episode is that the world isn't as bad as it seems and, in spite of all the "messaging" out there, humanity is low-key kicking ass right now if you know where to look.

Bonus round: Carl Sagan drops the mic on this episode.

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What is All the Feelings • The Senses?

You've had your senses your whole life. Nobody gave you the manual.

This season, Pete Wright and Tommy Metz III take them one at a time: twelve episodes, twelve senses. First come the five you learned in kindergarten. Then come the five nobody bothered to mention: knowing where your own elbow is with your eyes closed, staying upright, the thermostat war, pain, and the quiet internal voice announcing that you should probably find a bathroom soon. After that comes an episode on the senses scientists are still arguing about, and then a finale on the sense of humor. Humor isn't technically a sense, but it's how we get through the other eleven.

Along the way: the fabric you can't stand against your skin, the voice you hate hearing on recordings (your own), the smell that drops you straight back into your grandmother's kitchen, and so much more.

Same show, same two able and bewildered adults. We used to be called What's That Smell?, so in hindsight we've been a senses show all along.

Want to help us make sense of it all? Join the Feeling Friends at allthefeelings.fun.