Especially after the recent elections, I’ve noticed many candidates in both parties are endlessly optimistic about how they will change government for the better.
They’re almost always full of empty promises, and we all know it. This has me thinking about optimism and pessimism.
I’m generally a pessimist, and, let me tell you, it’s a lot of work.
Expecting the sky to fall at any moment means you spend a lot of time making up sky-falling escape strategies that you may not need.
As with all new ventures in my life, I view just about everything with a constant internal pessimism. For years now, I have fully expected things to occur which would derail the direction I hope my life will go.
With my recent 21st birthday — which further set back my faint hope of turning out to be immortal — I told myself I would force myself to be more optimistic in life. I told myself I would be more upbeat about being alive and just be happy to experience the good and the bad.
Even to muster the transparently false cheer in the above paragraph was draining. Thinking of the worst-case scenario is a reflex I have little control over. It’s like trying to hold a sneeze in.
This is how I learned the value of healthy pessimism, and learning its value has changed me.
Life requires some negative beliefs and skepticism because we don’t always know what we’re doing, which means — yeah — our lives are going to get screwed up.
Optimists, especially politicians, smile a lot. This makes me uneasy since I have no idea why they would smile all the time.
Sure, smiling increases someone’s social desirability, but smiling for no reason is meaningless. It cheapens the value of a genuine smile.
I can’t stand it when people just look thoughtlessly into the future as if life were like a sitcom on TV. Life isn’t that way at all.
I say optimism creates its own, better reality that’s a nice one to cling on to, but we shouldn’t be dependent on those false realities. Pessimism takes a harsh look at the world, but it’s worth it.
It gets old when I hear someone being asked how they’re doing, and they always answer, “I’m good,” time and time again. They’ve been giving the same, tired response for years. No one is that emotionally dead or stagnant on the inside.
Our lives are based on a variety of emotions. When I feel happy, I’m not always going to feel that bliss, even if my emotions tell you otherwise.
Even after I fell into a deep depression, I eventually learned that won’t even last forever.
Pessimists get a bad rep from optimists. We’re known as the “downers,” but we also get it right most of the time.
Pessimism is a general belief that things are not only bad, but it’ll also usually get worse.
This is the perfect mindset for staring at the unknown. It prepares you for disasters because it advises you of things that can happen.
There’s a saying that an optimist built the airplane, and a pessimist built the parachute. Acknowledging pessimism can be a good thing.
Even so, there’s a valid school of thought that suggests that pessimistic prophecies tend to be self-fulfilling ones. If you go around expecting life to kick you, it probably will.
It’s just as if you were constantly saying, “You must really hate me,” to your friends. They would start to be persuaded to hate you after a while.
Self-help experts say with a positive attitude, you leave yourself open to opportunities. With a negative one, you erect a force field around yourself and repel what good fortune might have come your way.
I guess I just prefer to see the dark side of things along with the lighter side.
I’ve learned the glass is always half-empty if you’re drinking it, but it’s half-full if you’re filling it up.
Don’t lower your expectations to meet reality. Expect the best of yourself, and then do what is necessary to make it a reality.
Life can often be disappointing, but at least it offers a chance to prove otherwise. Pessimism is a positive thing that can enrich your life and set you on a reasonably happy journey. Remember, everyone is just as miserable as you are, even if they are optimistic about it.
By JOSEPH DEVER
Senior Editor
jwdever@umail.iu.edu