Optimist or pessimist?

[Eaglet]

Holy shit what a depressing thread.

I'm probably what you'd call an optimist. Not because i believe good things will happen but because I believe that good things will happen if you make them happen. All your choices are your own responsibility and nobody else's.
I don't expect much out of other people though. Experience has taught me better. Not to say that I expect the worst. That would be pessimistic. I guess I'd call myself a realist.

[Ruldra]

I'm a natural optimist

- I always hope for the best, but if something fails to meet my expectations I'll just say "Oh well, better luck next time". I don't get attached to the result.
- Most problems that plague you throughout the day will be solved at the end of it. Problems that need to be solved tomorrow will be dealt with in due time, so you can sleep peacefully at night and know that you did what you could for today. No need to worry about it until then.
- Long-term problems, such as an upcoming test, will be solved if you put the necessary effort into it. If you do your part dilligently, you don't need to worry about the result.
- If something goes wrong, you can always try again. Or look for an alternate solution.
- If a problem can't be solved, well...you just have to roll with the punches. Being able to accept what happened and move on will put your demons to rest and avoid a lot of grief in your life.
- Whatever happened in the past stays in the past. Change today so you can have a brighter future. It's never too late to change.

Maybe I'm young, naive and not familiar with true hardships. But I generally look at things on the bright side and I'm pretty happy with my life as a result.

[nasty_wolverine]

This post from Nasty Wolverine cut me real deep, or at least made me feel glum about the future.

Wow, I didnt realize you made a thread on my comment. To be honest I didnt aim what i said at you or criticized your life choices. Infact, it makes me feel bad that i managed to make some one feel bad. I was just expressing my world view, and its a pessimestic view no doubt.

I actually can relate to your situation well. I have been there myself. Been in mindless relations, soul sucking jobs, pretending to be some one else just to fit in, and lot of stuff I hated myself for. And then I stopped all that, tried figuring out what I wanted, stopped trying to please others and be true to myself. It has worked out till now, and I am at a better place. Though being borderline doesnt help much.

When I said life was a downhill journey, here is what i meant:
- when your 1-10 years old, you feel like you can do everything
- when your 10-20 years old, you realize theres a bunch of things you cant do, but a lot of things you can still do, but dont have the means to.
- between 20-30 theres a lot of things you do and get away with, but your options are reducing, the younger generation is giving you tough competition, you have to start thinking about your future and where you want to be.
- after 30-40, its not much about you anymore, you have to take care of your dependents, until you yourself become depended on someone.
- The End.
(Note: ages will be different for different for different people)

What i was trying to say is time is always running out. There is only so much you can do before you are forced to stop. So have fun till you can, till time catches up and tells you stop. Live you life the way you want it, till you can.

I believe in free will, everyone is free to make their own choices. bad things happen because you make bad choices and vice-versa. You are responsible for your choices.

As for, whether I am an optimist or pessimist, I ll go for realist for I want to see things for what they are, not what they pretend to be. My philosophy of life is an absurdist one. I dont believe there is inherent meaning in anything. That doesnt mean I should just give up on life. If there is no meaning to life I create my own meaning and purpose, and strive towards that till I can, finding happiness and joy in the little things along the way.

I am also a misanthrope, hate poeple in general, like persons in particular. Not a big fan of humanity.

CIT wrote:

This is my ranking:
1. People who talk about ideas. <— cool
2. People who talk about things. <— OK
3. People who talk about other people. <— avoid

This describes what i feel about people in general. (some one should make a T-shirt)

[BryanM]

Yeah well this whole thing's been overthought when the answer was in our face the entire time:

Just go pretend to be one of those deaf-moots.

[Furry Fox Jet Pilot]

nor do I overexaggerate negativity.

uh

just sayin'

Again, I am merely stating the facts from experience, the truth seems kind of depressing, doesn't it?

[null1024]

I'd say I'm a bit of an optimist -- dumb shit happens, but I'm glad more dumb shit doesn't happen, and hopefully less dumb shit will happen if you play your cards right.

Not the most eloquent way to phrase it, but eh.

[brentsg]

I knew from the title that this would be a terrible thread full of depressing people, so pessimist I guess..

[PAPER/ARTILLERY]

I couldn't even begin to count the number of people who had wonderful, bright ideas, with tons of enthusiasm for publishing books, building websites, opening shops, freelancing graphic design etc, who could never gain any traction or momentum because they were stuck in a 9-5 slave job and had just enough disposable income to survive.

I think the system (THA SYSTEM!) is very much to blame for the general dissatisfaction people have with their lives. People should be able to pursue their interests, but we're channeled into facets of work that we don't necessarily have any inspiration for, just to make ends meet.

This really resonated with me as i'm going back to university in a couple of months at the ripe old age of 29 to retrain as a designer. The thought of this certainly improves my mood and makes it easier to deal with the monotony of my 9-to-5. On the subject of optimism / pessimism, I definitely fall on the side of optimism. A lot of people here seem to assume that life is a constant set of disappointments but in my experience that isn't true. I don't expect much from outside sources, not in a 'people are shit' way but just in the sense that I prefer to rely upon my own initiative and ability and not leave anything to chance. This means i'm rarely disappointed by anything and much like playing shmups - every failure is usually caused by my own mistakes and is something I can learn from. Probably worth noting that I am playing life on easy modo though, white, middle-class bloke living in England. Musn't grumble really.

[cools]

Depending on my mood I shift from optimist to absurdist and plenty of the time nihilist. Pessimist never comes into it.

[SuperSoaker360]

Pessimist, optimist, and pessimist, in that order.

I slipped back into being a pessimist when life decided to suddenly knock me out of my optimistic reverie.

At least as a pessimist, your heart doesn't sink as much when something terrible happens and when good things happens you are pleasantly surprised.
edit: Looking back, drauch's post pretty much nails it for me.

[BulletMagnet]

"Big picture" wise I guess you could say I'm optimistic when it comes to the theoretical potential for good to be wrought (as it indeed has at times, and continues to be on occasion), but pessimistic when it comes to how much I expect to live to ever see much of it done. On a personal level my expectations for my own life are pretty modest (I think so, anyhow), though still a ways from becoming reality, if they ever are to happen at all...as of the moment I'm not (physically, at least) wanting for anything, though, so things could definitely be worse, though I do sometimes wonder how much longer things can continue as they are (as, I suppose, do most of us).

[Ganelon]

I try to be a realist. Severe pessimists are a chore to be around and communicate with. Severe optimists are fine as long as they're not blissfully in ignorance; otherwise, they could turn into complete pessimists in an instant. I think many pessimists might actually be suffering from depression and not realize it. I find it much happier "to be somewhat excited about the future most of the time and rarely not so excited" than "to be content not being excited with the future all the time" or "to be very excited about the future a majority of the team and not excited at all the rest of the time." The key to being happy as an realist is to set expectations low, but not low enough that the expectation is something you wouldn't want.

Another aspect for folks to always consider is whether the majority of people in the world or history have it easier or harder than you do. For most of us online here playing games, we have overwhelming luxuries over most. There are so many things people take granted. Many—but certainly not all—of our first world problems derive from social pressures that can be circumvented with strong enough willpower. It's a shame there aren't enough support resources for folks to develop their mental fortitude (at least not here in the US).

I think it's almost impossible to be highly and consistently optimistic unless the person is ignorant. To take an example from personal experience, in my daily commute, there's a turn lane that extends past a traffic light and then merges back in. Traffic around that area can get pretty bad during rush hour. Every day, I always hope everyone will leave that turn lane for people who actually need to turn. I hope that nobody will be selfish enough to use the turn lane to cut in front of straight traffic after the light, thereby preventing everybody behind from right-turning during red lights, slowing the main traffic down as cars alternate to merge, and gaining an unfair advantage in the queue.

But sure enough, every single day without fail, numerous folks put their personal interests ahead of everybody else on the road. The right lane clearly appears to be leading to a right turn so it's highly unlikely these cars are simply new to the road. And these cars aren't speeding by as fast as fast as they can so it's unlikely most are in a huge hurry. Maybe others don't notice this behavior but each day, it's abundantly clear to me how selfish certain some people can be. The net result? One person saves a couple of minutes. Dozens of people lose a couple of minutes. A huge net loss in overall efficiency thanks to inconsiderate behavior.

A pessimist might point to this scenario as another sign that societal behavior is turning to shambles. However, as a realist, I consider further that the vast majority of drivers I see there are as considerate as I am and don't take the turn lane to try and cut ahead. For every one driver that cuts, there are maybe 9 that stay put. And this distribution reassures me that even though there are plenty of rotten eggs in society, they're overwhelmed by the goodness of the majority. And this type of perspective is also why it's almost impossible to be highly pessimistic unless the person is ignorant. For every terrorist, how many times more philanthropists are there? And that's not even talking about the greys in-between, such as how your jerk coworker might still be contributing to societal causes.

And that's my realist viewpoint in a nutshell: a pessimistic recognition of wrongs with an optimistic appreciation for good.

[neorichieb1971]

My boss and family say I'm a pessimist. Being a capricorn and all that.

My boss says my glass is half empty. I say keep topping it up and i'm happy. He stopped using that phrase now.

[Skykid]

Wow, I didnt realize you made a thread on my comment. To be honest I didnt aim what i said at you or criticized your life choices. Infact, it makes me feel bad that i managed to make some one feel bad.

Nah, I wasn't really cut that deep, just surprised you capped the comment with such a downer.

I actually can relate to your situation well. I have been there myself. Been in mindless relations... pretending to be some one else just to fit in...

Um, the above doesn't actually apply to me. Just the part about soul sucking jobs and hating myself for certain things (everyone does that though.) I'm certainly no conformist, I went to work and did it my way, often completely contrary to how I was told to do it, and my bossess hated me for it. But my results were exceptional, so they couldn't pin anything on me that would stick.

What i was trying to say is time is always running out. There is only so much you can do before you are forced to stop. So have fun till you can, till time catches up and tells you stop. Live you life the way you want it, till you can.

I'm doing my best! I don't believe people are ever truly satisfied with their lives: it's an unattainable goal. I think the only time people really feel absolute nirvana is when they fall in love. When that fades into normalcy, life comes right back to punch you in the nuts on a regular basis.

So we should really consider falling in love as many times as possible before we die. Unfortunately our society just isn't set up that way. See the Ruby Wax talk for further reference.

This really resonated with me as i'm going back to university in a couple of months at the ripe old age of 29 to retrain as a designer. The thought of this certainly improves my mood and makes it easier to deal with the monotony of my 9-to-5.

So much respect for you going back to Uni. Education is by far one of the most enjoyable pursuits, best to stay in it as long as possible. Screw jacking it in for a shitty job somewhere. Good luck!

[Super Laydock]

If we are talking are talking about humankind: pessimist! (Someone or something should just kill us all for good justice!).

About life in general, I am quite optimistic. I'll die in any case so why not enjoy living while heading that way?
Always look on the bright side of life/dead! (best life guide movie ever!)

[endoKarb]

Optimism and pessimism imply a certain level of expectation for the future. I pretty much just try to do what I can with whatever life throws at me.

Sort of like that old taoist story:

There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. "Such bad luck," they said sympathetically.

"Maybe," the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. "How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed.

"Maybe," replied the old man. The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. "Maybe," answered the farmer. The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. "Maybe," said the farmer.

It'd have been pretty hard for me to grow up without adopting this sort of mentality.

Life can be pretty unfair to some people.

[trap15]

That's actually pretty good. I think that's mostly how I roll. It's so much easier to just take everything as it comes

[Aguraki]

optimistic for my life.
pessimistic for humanity.