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A lot of people pride themselves on being optimists, and TBH, if you canstay positivewith everything that’s going on in the world today, major props to you. For most people who consider themselves the glass-half-full type, it’s a lifestyle. They try to look at everything that comes their way, from relationship troubles to work mistakes, with a positive spin. But a recent study investigated whether optimists still stay more positive than pessimists when things get really tough, and what they found was pretty surprising.

Scientists analyzed nine previous studies to see how both optimists and pessimists brace themselves for receiving important and potentially negative news, like medical test results. They found that even though people who identify as optimists tend to be more positive in general, they too start assuming the worst as the moment of truth about something important nears. It’s easy to understand this instinct, since some people tend to believe that preparing yourself for the worst will ultimately make it less shocking if it happens. On the other hand, some people would rather stay positive whenever possible, since it’s easier to fight off stress and anxiety when you have a sunny outlook. Here, we’ve gathered some of our favorite expert tips for staying optimistic when you’re dealing with some super hard stuff.

How To Stay Positive

1.Learn to reframe negativity. “The trick to positivity is not avoiding pessimism,” says Elaine Taylor-Klaus, a certified professional coach. “It’s really about how quickly you can redirect your focus from negative to positive. Critical thinkers are going to see problems to be solved, but the ability to ‘reframe’ the conversation is the really important skill for people to practice.” She recommends getting into the habit of acknowledging negative thoughts and then asking, “What else is possible here?” This can guide you back into a positive mindset more quickly.

“Bottom line: Negativity happens,” she says. “Positivity is a choice, and the quicker you learn to reframe, the more time you’ll spend in a positive space. Then, over time, the more likely you are to turn directly to a positive interpretation of events.”

2. Ask yourself if this will matter a month or year from now. Sometimes things seem crucial AF in the moment, but might be inconsequential even just a few days after that. Just think about high school drama. “When we can leave the past behind and even know in the present moment that this feeling won’t last, it can help to remind us that time heals and life goes on,” explainsSharon Stokes, life-fulfillment coach.

3.Give back. Volunteering is an amazing way to change your entire perspective, saysLyssa Menard, a clinical health psychologist, founder of Strategies for Changeand assistant professor at Northwestern University’s medical school. “There are many organizations that don’t require an ongoing commitment, so sign up for an event that’s meaningful. Research shows that giving to others is one of the quickest routes toward happiness. While happiness and positivity are different, they’re correlated,” Lyssa says.

4. Role play to be more objective. Playing a little mind trick on yourself can work wonders, says Lori Scherwin of Strategize That, a career coaching service. “We’re often better at helping others than ourselves,” she notes. “Make the situation more objective and less personal to you. For example, consider if it were anyone else in the situation (like your best friend, partner or colleague). How would you see the same ‘problem?’ What advice might you give them to get out of it?” she asks. This will help you shift from being super hard on yourself to more objective, and most likely, more positive.

5. Make changes to things that are within your control. Spending time worrying about something that you can’t change isn’t really worth the effort. Instead, “Focus on areas where you have agency,” suggests Holly Burton, a career coach for women in male-dominated industries. “You may be stuck in a role you don’t love at work, but you could probably work a few extra hours a week and take on a project that interests you. You could also schedule some proactive meetings with your boss to make an action plan to develop the skills you need to make a lateral move,” she says. In most situations, whether they’re career-related or not, it’s possible to take actions to make things better for yourself.

6. Practice radical acceptance. Some professional coaches suggest trying out the idea of radical acceptance, which is basically accepting the things you cannot change, even if they’re not right or you don’t agree with them.

7.Try this gratitude challenge. First, journal about one event each day for seven days that made you feel happy and/or thankful and include the specifics of why it made you feel that way, going deep into the details. Second, send one random thank you email or text to someone each day, either personally or professionally. This message should include what they did and why it’s worthy of the shout out. Detailed gratitude journals are proven to improve your life satisfaction, so try to stick to a gratitude practice, even in the good times!

What do you do when you’re trying to stay optimistic? Have you tried any of these techniques? Tell us about it @BritandCo!

This article has been updated.

It's fun to learn more about ourselves and to feel understood — that's why we take personality tests so incessantly. And since we live in an age of increased self-awareness, we can apply those tests to so many things, like our Hogwarts house and makeup preferences. Clearly, knowing thyself has taken on a whole new meaning lately, and we love the things that these tests can tell us — but did you ever wonder how your personality might affect your dreams? In a new study, Best Mattress Brand set out to discover whether specific types of people had particular types of dreams. Read on for their fascinating results.

The test explored each component of the Myers-Briggs types, which can be broken down into eight characteristics:

Extraversion or Introversion: This is the way you focus your energy. Extroverts focus on the outside world, and Introverts focus on their inner world.

Sensing or Intuition: This is the way you process information. Sensing individuals focus on the facts, and Intuitive individuals interpret the facts.

Thinking or Feeling: This is the way you make decisions. Thinkers process decisions logically, and Feelers make decisions with context and emotion in mind.

Judging or Perceiving: This is the lens through which you interpret the world. Judgers prefer decisive action, while Perceivers like to keep their options open.

Together, your individual combination of these eight traits creates your personality type. Given these traits as variables, the study surveyed 1,000 people on their Myers Briggs traits and their sleep habits.

As you'd imagine, there were a lot of discrepancies between Introverts and Extroverts. Interestingly enough, Extroverts are 17.7 percent more satisfied with their levels of energy during waking hours than their introverted counterparts. Perhaps it's because of their dream habits: Extroverts also have 8.3 percent fewer nightmares than Introverts. Extroverts also dream about traveling 13.9 percent more often than Introverts do.

What about the content of these dreams? If you're Intuitive, you're 16.8 percent more likely to dream about being killed than Sensers are. ­Apparently, Intuitive individuals' dreams are more violent across the board: They also dream about getting attacked and “punching something with no effect" more often.

There's also a substantial difference between Thinkers and Feelers when it comes to dreams. The more emotional Feelers dream about getting pregnant more often than Thinkers do, and they dream about their friends more often too. Perhaps Thinkers are just thinking too hard; they talk in their sleep almost 10 percent more than Feelers do.

The Judgers and Perceivers have their differences as well; in fact, Perceivers have night terrors 10.2 percent more often than Judgers, probably due to the fact that they experience reality so deeply.

Does your personality type match up with these findings? Let us know @BritandCo.

(Photo via Brit + Co)

This post has been updated.

We're getting closer and closer to seeing a Freaky Friday2. The cat's out of the bag that the sequel treatment is confirmed and actually happening, and movie stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan have been increasingly vocal about the upcoming movie's plot. The dynamic duo, who you can see in 2024's Borderlands and Irish Wish, respectively, are expected to return as Tess and Anna, the mother and daughter that wake up one titular freaky Friday in swapped bodies.

Filming for Freakier Friday finally began on June 24, and we finally have an official release date for the film! Here's everything we know about Freaky Friday 2 so far.

Is the band Pink Slip going to be in Freaky Friday 2?

Carlo Allegri / Getty Images

Anna's pop-rock teen band, Pink Slip, is undoubtedly integral to the plot of the original Freaky Friday, and thankfully, we'll see the band again in Freakier Friday! (Can we get some performances of “Take Me Away” and “Ultimate"?!). "Pink Slip is back together, the band. Yes!” Lindsay Lohan told Jimmy Fallon. “We just finished [filming] in August. It’s just been such a labor of love to make happen. And Jamie [Lee Curtis] and I, even at the table read, we were just smiling so big. I don’t think we were acting well, because we were so happy. But the movie’s funny, it’s really funny.”

"I may or may not have gotten to go to set and been around some pink slip energy," writer Jordan Weiss told me while promoting Sweethearts. "It may or may not have excited my inner child beyond belief because I was a super fan. I was 10 years old when the first movie came out. So 20 years later to get to work on the sequel as part of that team was a dream and, you know, don't meet your heroes unless your heroes are Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, In which case they're amazing. Meet your heroes."

Before the confirmation, a fewFreaky Friday crew members spilled on whether or not we'll actually see the angsty band in the sequel in an interview with Cosmopolitan.

Screenwriter Heather Hach clearly agreed that the soundtrack played a huge part in the movie's plot. "You take out the band element and I don’t think Freaky Friday would be as popular as it is," she said. "It didn’t feel like a derpy Disney movie. The music was actually really good."

Jaclyn Pearson, PHD, the drummer for the band Lash (who wrote the ever-iconic song "Take Me Away"), teased that Freaky Friday 2 might revisit their discography. "We contacted our record label because we heard there might be a sequel," she said. "We’ve got this whole back catalog. Maybe they could use another song for the film."

Producer Andrew Gunn seemed to suggest the same thing: "We got a draft of a script for the sequel right before the writers’ strike, and it was really good. A writer came up with the most brilliant idea. It uses music and the band in a great way."

When is Freakier Friday coming out?

Walt Disney Studios

Freakier Friday Release Date

Freaky Friday 2 is coming to theaters on August 8, 2025. This is definitely one of our most-anticipated movies of 2025 now!

Is Chad Michael Murray in Freaky Friday 2?

Presley Ann / Getty Images for Netflix

Freakier Friday Cast

Yes, Chad Michael Murray is returning for the sequel!

"How great would it be to bring Jake back?" he teased during the Mother of the Bride premiere in May 2024. "If Jake's invited back, Jake will be there." Thank goodness they invited him back!

Freaky Friday 2 also stars Mark Harmon, Christina Vidal Mitchell, Haley Hudson, Lucille Soong, Stephen Tobolowsky, Rosalind Chao, Julia Butters, Sophia Hammons, Manny Jacinto, and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan.

What is Freakier Friday going to be about?

Carlo Allegri / Getty Images

Freakier Friday Plot

Freaky Friday 2 sees Anna with a family of her own, including a daughter and a future stepdaughter. According to a press release from Disney, "As they navigate the myriad challenges that come when two families merge, Tess and Anna discover that lightning might indeed strike twice."

"It's going to be a really freaky Friday," Lindsay Lohan told Good Morning America on June 27, 2024. "Much freakier than you would expect."

"[There's] a lot of love, a lot of fun, a lot of laughs," she continues.

Glen Wilson/Disney

Disney posted this sneak-peek screen cap that we can only assume is from the movie. We truly can't wait to watch this sequel!

Are they making a Freaky Friday 2?

John Nacion / Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

Lindsay Lohan said on Andy Cohen's Sirius XM show that Freaky Friday 2 is really and truly happening! However, "I don’t want to say too much,” she said about the potential timeline.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the cast could be on set as early as summer 2024. In addition to Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis reprising their roles, Andrew Gunn and Kristin Burr will produce the movie, Elyse Hollander will write the script, and Ann Marie Sanderlin will executive produce. Nisha Ganatra will direct.

While Lindsay is looking forward to the story, she's “just excited to work with Jamie [Lee Curtis] again and see how much further we can take it," she tells PEOPLE. “We talk almost every other day in general, so I think we're going to have a lot of fun with this."

Are Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan friends?

Jamie Lee Curtis / Instagram

Yes, Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan are definitely still friends! In November 2023, Curtis shared an adorable Instagram selfie with Lohan, teasing the upcoming project. And after the writers' and actors' strikes ended, project promotion is slowly returning to light.

"YOU GREW UP and SO BEAUTIFULLY!" the caption reads. "Well, it's Friday, and the strike is over so hopefully, we can switch places again in the near future!" She also tagged Lohan and Disney, which teased the iconic ‘03 comedy in a fun way.

What has Jamie Lee Curtis said about Freaky Friday?

Allyson Riggs

Curtis — coming off some serious cinematic hits, Everything Everywhere All At Once and Halloween Ends — still retains a strong bond with Lohan, and hasn’t exactly been shy about her excitement towards circling back to Freaky Friday. Landing the original role and moving through production was undoubtedly significant to the actress: she cites her own success with Tess after taking on the job at the last minute, despite being booked and busy elsewhere.

“Had I had all the time in the world to prepare, I don’t think it would’ve been so good,” Curtis told the New York Times. “I just had to be in my body. I was also newly sober and I was able to have a community within the movie-work world. That was a big deal for me.”

What has Lindsay Lohan said about Freaky Friday?

Scott Everett White / Netflix

Lohan told the New York Times that she was ready and raring to tackle 2003’s Freaky Fridayback in the day after rocking a dual-role in 1998's The Parent Trap.

“I threw myself into everything: accents, green screens, playing two people,” said Lohan. “So I felt comfortable after that. Freaky Friday felt different because I was going through all of the phases of a 16-year-old [but playing a character who was a year younger]. This was the era of Avril Lavigne and punk, and I wanted to experience it. We did white stripes in my hair.”

The fame Lohan endured at a young age didn’t always leave a positive effect, and it’s been a hot second since we’ve seen her fully emerge back into the spotlight. The star’s been busy since – she moved to Dubai, manages her overseas businesses, got married, and recently welcomed motherhood. After all that, Lohan remains eager to act again – and thankfully in a second Freaky Friday.

“Jamie and I are both open to that, so we’re leaving it in the hands that be,” Lohan told NYT. “We would only make something that people would absolutely adore.”

It sounds like Curtis is ready, too. "As I went around the world with Halloween Ends, people wanted to know if there was going to be another 'Freaky Friday.' Something really touched a chord. When I came back, I called my friends at Disney and said, 'It feels like there’s a movie to be made.'"

Who's writing Freaky Friday 2?

Disney

Freakier Friday was written by Jordan Weiss.

Who is directing Freaky Friday 2?

Jamie Lee Curtis / Instagram

Nisha Ganatra is directing Freaky Friday 2. She’s directed TV episodes on shows like The Mindy Project, Shameless, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Dear White People. Ganatra has also done directorial work in movies like The Hunters, Late Night, and The High Note.

Disney will be distributing the Freaky Friday sequel.

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This post has been updated.