I am a pessimist, and well, I'm really sick of people that can't be open minded about it. Pessimism is not a bad thing at all. Sure a pessimistic person such as myself expects the worst possible outcome of situations, but subconsciously I'm taking steps to avoid the worst. At least when something goes wrong I'm not upset about it, it was expected. Right? On the other hand though, if a situation turns out good in the end I'm left with a wonderful surprised feeling. More people should look into this and understand the outcome of it. What are your thoughts; do you believe pessimism could be just another way of positive thinking? 😛
Originally posted by maybeONEday
I am a pessimist, and well, I'm really sick of people that can't be open minded about it. Pessimism is not a bad thing at all. Sure a pessimistic person such as myself expects the worst possible outcome of situations, but subconsciously I'm taking steps to avoid the worst. At least when something goes wrong I'm not upset about it, it was expected. Ri ...[text shortened]... t are your thoughts; do you believe pessimism could be just another way of positive thinking? 😛
I tend to disagree. Being pessimist, you would never really think positively. Expect bad things to happen all the time and get used to that happening. It would encourage bad things to happen to you and that would become normal in your life.
When you find that people appear to be "born with a silver spoon in their mouth", it isn't that bad things don't happen to them, they learn from those experiences and strive to make their lives better. They do think positively and are optimistic about their future. They can handle bad situations better because they always see the positive outcome. Turn it around and use those experiences to achieve more in life.
When optimistic, if you get knocked down by negative life experiences, you can have the will power for this not to happen again.
If all you expect is a negative outcome, how can you learn from this and turn it into a positive?
It's better to be a weak pessimist than a weak optimist.
If you're going to be pessimistic you need to avoid fatalism to prevent despondancy, conversely optimism requires clear vision and determination to prevent complacency.
So I reckon either one can be "good", but that it is determined by secondary attributes.
MÅ¥HÅRM
I think of pessimism as a philosophical disposition ala Schopenhauer. It's not really that you think the universe is out to get you, but rather that you think the universe is indifferent toward you. In one respect, you can take that idea and think, "Well, then life is valueless," but if you focus on the temporality of our nature you can also argue that life is that much more precious because it's finite.