Are you an Optimist or a Pessimist?
Every decision in life that we make, we make based on our veiw of the options. There are lenses, if you will, that we can see the choices through. These lenses are mostly subject to our situation and our background. They form our perception of the world. Our perception of the world is either optimistic or pessimistic.
I’ve come to the conclusion that virtually everyone falls into one of these categories(in varying degrees). The optimist believes in the overall good of people. They see the good in things as well as the opportunities in various situations. The pessimist is the opposite. He sees why nothing will work like it’s supposed to. He finds all the possible obstacles first, and that’s where he dwells. I’ve heard some say there’s a third category, the Realist. I think that’s generally the cop-out of a pessimist who won’t admit he is one.
The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
…………Winston Churchill
Obviously, everyone has a little bit of both of those characteristics. Which one of these we let define our general attitude, has a great influence on how well we do in life. For most of us, it’s an ongoing struggle between the two. It’s much easier to be a pessimist. It’s also easier to find friends in this group. The question is, can you have a successful life as a pessimist? By success, I mean can you set goals, and actually follow through to achieve them with a pessimistic attitude? The odds are greatly stacked against you.
Basically:
Being optimistic can, however, be taken to extremes that are just stupid. We’ve all seen these folks. You know the ones that say things like “there are no such things as problems, just opportunities”….yeah, get real. That’s not what I mean by being optimistic. I’m not talking about running around, spewing quotes that make all your friends and family roll their eyes at you. At the same time, are you the one that gives pessimistic advice? When someone you know has an idea, are you the one that tries to “bring them back to reality”? I’ve probably been guilty of that before.
Being optimistic is better for you and everyone around you. Negativity sucks the life blood out of everything. I know, because I work around a lot of people from both sides.
How would the people around you describe your personality and attitude? Do you look at the upside or the downside to most situations?
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it’s all wrong, being pessimistic is about believing things are most likely to go wrong, and thus, a strong pessimist will count on everything, thus has a more fail-safe plan then the optimist.
and of course, the optimist will become more bittered, as things turn out less wonderful then initially thought, while the pessimist is always amazed at how well things went.
I always believe in things to turn out for the worst, but when it’s over, I always find the good things that have come out of it.
when you want the best, prepare for the worst.
popo,
I respect your opinion, but disagree. In my opinion and experience, pessimism causes people to miss good opportunities and leads them to only focus on how bad they perceive things to be. That’s my opinion.