Optimism vs. Pessimism

Optimism and pessimism are attitudes. And they are attitudes that help design and form our whole existence. These days, I’ve been giving some thought regarding pessimism and optimism. These two attitudes are entirely opposite of each other. What I mean is, have you ever met a miserable optimist? Definitely not. Have you given much thought about how your behavior or attitude affects your school, organization or business, whether you’re a pessimist or an optimist? What about the kind of team you are a part of? And have you ever thought about how your attitude affects your personality? So what is optimism? It is a belief or an opinion that things would be better in the future.

It is also a belief that the things that has happened in the past were good for us, even if it means they were too tough and taught us valuable lessons in life. In other words, our pessimism or optimism is this: The way we view and experience our present. The way we went through and interpret our past. The way we envision and visualize our future. Here are some differences between pessimism and optimism and how they affect us in some ways. Being optimistic motivates and encourages you to take calculated risks. On the other hand, pessimism never achieves much and always plays it safe.

Being optimistic breathes life into you every day, being pessimistic does not--it actually drains you. Optimism inspires people to new and greater heights. Being pessimistic diminishes and underestimates people to new lows. An optimist improves people around you. On the contrary, a pessimist drags their energy down. Actually, there is only a way that pessimism and optimism are similar and that is that they are self-fulfilling. If you are a pessimist, you would find yourself in the not-so-very-good situations more oftentimes than not. And if you’re an optimist, you would naturally find and feel that good things happen to you.

But can a person just choose to become an optimist? Well—of course! We could choose to look at the world and think the worst, or we can simply remind ourselves the positive and good tings about every circumstance. We can choose to look at the world in any way we want to. There are great and remarkable benefits in being an optimist, as stated above. But there are some pessimistic individuals out there who would say, “But that is simply not realistic at all.” And I say, “Who cares---if things go wrong, at least I’ve spent my time beforehand not worrying at all but enjoying life.

I could even look forward to my failures and I’ll see them as just stepping stones or challenges in my life, and learning tools to be applied to my future successes. In addition, being a positive optimist, I would see the ‘negative’ or ‘bad’ situation as an opportunity to grow, build my defenses and learn more. So, ever met a successful, triumphant smiling pessimist? Become and transform to be an optimist and discover your world change for the better right before your very eyes!