Pessimism

“Assuming that something ugly will stay ugly is an easy forecast to make.”

Optimists don’t ever truly believe anything will be great because that’s complacency. Rather, optimism is the believe that the odds are in your favor over time. Not all the time, but over time.

Optimists have an open mind knowing things could be better. But they also understand things could be worse. They just choose to think more about the better things than the worse things.

You’d think more people would be optimists because optimists are happier people but, in reality, most people are pessimists.

WHY?

Being a pessimist is easy and more appealing.

Pessimists get more attention.

People are attracted to bad news. That’s why negative headlines get so much more interaction than positive headlines. Nobody wants to be in danger so they base their life on avoidance rather than pursual.

If I were to give you these two headlines:

HERE’S HOW TO LIVE THROUGH THE NEXT MONTH.

HERE’S HOW TO NOT DIE IN THE NEXT 30 DAYS.

Which would you read?

Most likely the second one.

Nobody wants the negative outcome, but that’s precisely why they are so attracted to it.

In this life, nobody really knows what they want, but they sure as hell know what they don’t want.

The possibility of something bad happening once is appears so much more grave than the reality that good things could happen most of the time.

Everyone is focused on risk-avoidance. You live your life the same way it has always been because you are worried about the what-ifs. What if I lose it all? What if it goes south? What if I fail?

Yeah, they are all possibilities, but what are the chances that you grow, that you become better than before, that you learn? Much greater than the chances of ultimate failure.

THE THREAT OF FAILURE ALWAYS SEEMS MORE SEVERE THAN THE POSSIBLITY OF SUCCESS.

It’s always easy to paint a negative picture. Because you know the worst thing that could happen. You know that if nothing goes as planned the worst thing that could happen is death. And death is inevitable. What you don’t know is the best thing that could happen. There is no limit on the upside of any situation.

People like finite limits. People like structure. People like parameters.

Growth and success don’t have limits. There is no end to how far you will go, and this scares people. The fear of the unknown.

Predicting something will stay the way it is, is an easy prediction. It is comfortable. But guessing that something will change for the better appears foolish to most people. It seems unlikely because it hasn’t happened before.

That is the difference between pessimists and optimists:

PESSIMISTS THINK THAT IT CAN ONLY STAY THE SAME OR GET WORSE. OPTIMISTS REALIZE THAT IT CAN GET WORSE, STAY THE SAME, OR GET BETTER

High expectations ruin ambition. You are let down when things don’t go as you imagined. Therefore, most people choose pessimism. Rather than accepting pessimism, keep your expectations low and know they can be outperformed, don’t just believe that they won’t.

When you expect everything to be bad, you are always pleased when its not. That’s why pessimism is so appealing.

But pessimists never see the possibility for growth. They don’t ever strive for more.

OPTIMISTS ARE PREPARED TO BE LET DOWN.

If you know you can be let down, it doesn’t hurt as bad. Just realize it is possible, but always hope for the best, not the worst.

Most people are pessimists and you and I aren’t most people.

Choose the glass half full.

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Thank you for reading!

My goal is to inspire self-improvement in others through my personal stories and experiences.

This is The Exploration.