Pessimism Vs. Optimism: Striking a Balance

The biggest difference between a pessimistic mindset and an optimistic mindset is the focus and lens through which we view the world. Not all pessimists are unhappy, and not all optimists are happy. Being pessimistic means always being able to see the negative. Most of us are aware of negative outcomes, but a pessimist includes these outcomes in how they perceive events. Pessimists process and engage with the negative aspects, and this allows them to determine how much joy they can feel for any situation. An optimist looks for the positive in every situation and tries to focus on the good and minimize the negative. An extreme position in either pessimism or optimism neglects the big picture. Having a balance of both positive and negative leads to a more balanced, happy, and successful life.

A quick way to determine if you are a pessimist or an optimist is to think back to 5 major life events and see how you view them. Were there more negative than positive? Now think about how they impacted your life. Was the impact more negative than positive? Next look at your life. Are there things to feel good about? Are there things you can improve? If you find that your view point skews more negative than positive is it that your major life events have been bad? Can you think of a neutral time or even a time in which you would not use overtly negative or positive descriptors?  If you are finding this challenging, then your thoughts skew more heavily to one side than the other.

To achieve a more balanced way of looking at the world, focus on neutral events. A good way to do this is find universal human experiences and view them through the lens of neutrality. For example, waking up in the morning. The act of getting out of bed can be viewed operationally. The actual steps of waking up and getting out of bed are universal. It is also a good measure of where you are at on the pessimism vs. optimism scale. If you look at waking up as a positive, you are most likely skewing optimistic. If you dread waking up, you are most likely skewing pessimistic. If we look at waking up as a neutral thing and embrace that, we have the ability to decide what our routine will be and how we start our day. We can increase the balance in our life exponentially.