【英語Summary（300 words）】

Resilience has become an essential competency for teachers, who face emotionally demanding environments, heavy workloads, and the constant expectation to remain positive. Recent research in psychology highlights that forced positivity may actually weaken mental endurance by creating internal “emotional debt.” Dr. Barbara Fredrickson’s concept of “Dormant Optimism” offers a healthier alternative: allowing temporary pessimism while maintaining core beliefs such as “I can recover” or “My students can grow.” This approach frees teachers from the pressure to appear strong and instead encourages authentic emotional processing.

Another effective tool is the “Distance Principle,” a framework emphasizing that mistakes are not regressions but minor deviations within a broader trajectory of progress. By reframing setbacks—such as difficult classes, strained parent communication, or momentary failures—teachers can avoid all-or-nothing thinking, which often leads to cognitive distortions and emotional spirals. This principle helps shift the mindset from catastrophic interpretation to a more realistic, balanced perspective.

The article also highlights the “Negativity Bias,” an evolutionary tendency to prioritize negative events over the abundance of positive ones. Teachers often remember failures more strongly than successes, not because they lack ability, but because the brain naturally focuses on threats. Accepting this bias allows educators to treat temporary pessimism as a normal human response rather than a personal flaw.

Finally, resilience is described not as an innate gift but as a collection of small, daily habits. Simple one-minute practices—acknowledging temporary sadness or recalling past progress—can accumulate to strengthen long-term emotional recovery. Together, these principles form a practical, psychologically grounded system that empowers teachers to navigate professional stress while maintaining long-term well-being.

Title:“The Day Tom Learned Real Resilience: Why Forced Positivity Fails Teachers
――後半に日本語訳をつけています”

---

It was a late autumn afternoon in Raleigh, North Carolina. The air smelled faintly of dry leaves and chalk dust as Tom, a second-year middle school teacher, sat alone in his empty classroom. The sun was setting, turning the whiteboard golden. Yet all he could see was the chaos of the failed lesson from just an hour before.

Most days, Tom tried his best to be the “positive teacher” everyone expected. He greeted students with a bright voice, reassured parents with confident smiles, and told himself, “You’re fine. Stay upbeat.”
On the outside, he looked steady. Inside, he was exhausted.

That day, everything cracked.
His class had spiraled out of control.
A parent had complained angrily.
His supervisor added a new responsibility on top of his already overflowing workload.
Tom whispered, “I’m supposed to stay positive… right?”
But the act felt heavier than the problems themselves.

As he replayed the day in his head, the familiar spiral started:
“Maybe I’m not cut out for this.”
“This one failure cancels everything I’ve done.”
His chest tightened. He felt small, powerless, cornered.

Then he remembered something from a resilience workshop: Dormant Optimism.
He exhaled slowly.
“Okay… I’m allowed to feel awful today. That doesn’t mean I’ve lost my core belief.”
He wrote on a sticky note:
I recover. My students grow. Today is just one step.
Next, he applied the Distance Principle:
Progress so far – today’s setback = still moving forward.
For the first time that day, his shoulders relaxed.

The problems didn’t vanish.
But the emotional freefall stopped.
He wasn’t broken—just tired.
By accepting temporary pessimism, he found genuine calm. That night, he prepared for tomorrow with a clearer mind, not a forced smile.

Tom later said:
“I learned that resilience isn’t pretending. It’s allowing myself to be human while protecting the beliefs that keep me going.”

---

【日本語訳】

---

トムが“本当のレジリエンス”に気づいた日——“無理なポジティブ”が教師を追い詰める理由

ノースカロライナ州ローリーの晩秋の午後。
落ち葉とチョークの匂いが混ざる教室で、トムは一人、沈んでいた。窓から差す夕日の光がホワイトボードを黄金色に染める。しかし彼の頭に浮かぶのは、1時間前の授業崩壊の記憶だけだった。

普段のトムは「前向きな先生」を演じていた。
明るい声、頼もしそうな笑顔、そして心の中の呪文——
「大丈夫だ、ポジティブでいろ。」
外からは安定して見えていたが、内側では疲弊していた。

その日、限界が訪れた。
授業は崩壊、保護者はクレーム、上司からは仕事の追加。
トムは呟く——「前向きでなきゃ…だよな？」
しかしその“演技”こそが彼を追い詰めていた。

頭の中で反芻が始まる。
「もう向いてないのかも。」
「今日の失敗で全部が台無しだ。」
胸が苦しく、心が縮む感覚。逃げ出したい気持ち。

彼はふと、研修で習った“休眠的楽観主義”を思い出す。
「今日の落ち込みは許していい。信念だけ守ればいい。」
そう言い聞かせ、付箋に書く。
「私は回復できる。生徒は成長できる。今日はただの一歩。」
さらに“距離の原則”を適用する。
「これまでの成長 − 今日のつまずき = まだ前進している」
少しだけ息が楽になった。

問題は消えない。
でも、心の落下は止まった。
壊れていたわけではなく、ただ疲れていただけだった。
その夜、彼は無理な笑顔ではなく、落ち着いた心で準備を始めた。

後にトムはこう語った。
「レジリエンスとは“平気なふり”じゃない。
人間らしい弱さを認めつつ、根本の信念だけを守る力だ。」