Are you more of an optimist or a pessimist? Do you agree with the above graffiti, that pessimists don’t enjoy life? I don’t. I’m basically a cheerful pessimist…I’ve always figured any way of life that ends up in old age (possibly) and death (definitely) is not going to be perfect. The world is always going to be full of problems but that doesn’t mean we have to curl up and die. Another approach is to view Life As a Shared Adventure. It works for me. What works for you?
It also helps me to seek out humor:
Have you seen any good cartoons, heard any good jokes lately?
I was a pessimist & my husband an optimist. I’m much better.
Tom said, “It’s not a problem unless you think it’s a problem.” Good advice. Think of the amount of things you worried about & they never happened.
Worrying is interest paid on a debt that may never be collected.
Optimist.
I don’t worry about things I can’t do anything about.
Earl Nightingale:
Things that never happen: 40 percent. That is, 40 percent of the things you worry about will never occur anyway.
Things over and past that can’t be changed by all the worry in the world: 30 percent.
Needless worries about our health: 12 percent.
Petty, miscellaneous worries: 10 percent.
Real, legitimate worries: 8 percent. Only 8 percent of your worries are worth concerning yourself about. Ninety-two percent are pure fog with no substance at all.
While I was never much of a worrier, I took this concept to heart 20 years or so ago.
My mom worried about a lot of things, but did little or nothing about the small percentage she could do anything about.
Mike (or Earl Nightingale), I think I’ll frame that.
I want to explain what I said. ‘It’s not a problem unless you think it’s a problem.’ THEN it becomes your problem to worry about. If you don’t consider it a problem, then it isn’t one.
I’m an optimist about individuals.
I’m pessimistic that the needed social changes will occur quickly enough. (And yes it is a problem even though people aren’t thinking about it – in fact partly because people aren’t thinking about it.)
Usually I am a contrarian: pessimist when I am with optimists, and optimist when I am with pessimists. Things get problematic when I am with a mixed group.
Alone, however, I am a pessimist about the near term, but optimistic about the end game.
bikehikebabe,
It’s great being married to a non-worrier, isn’t it?
Mike,
I agree, don’t waste time worrying about things you can’t change. Don’t know who said this, but it comes in handy:
Evan,
I agree, people don’t change their habits unless there’s some reward or unless they’re forced to. The question is can we do anything about that? If so, do it. If not, there’s no point in worrying.
Looney,
Good point. I suspect there’s a bit of contrarian in me too. I mostly stay away from groups, so that’s not a problem here.
Worrying is a waste of time for sure.
I’m sitting on the fence with this one…but as gaelikaa has said worrying is a waste of time!
When I was worried just this evening over problems in the kitchen – I first did a lot of swearing, then burst into tears, then thought maybe I should book into an old ladies retirement place – then all that was over and I said “you know what to do”
fortunately the contents of the damn tin was crushed tomatoes so I did finally get them out through a short gap!!
gaelikaa,
Amen to worrying being a waste of time. That doesn’t mean not worrying doesn’t take commitment and practice at times.
Cathy,
I sympathize. I also think the more often encounters problems and gets to the I-know-what-to-do stage, the easier it is next time to remember we have met and solved problems before. It makes it easier to back off and focus on finding solutions instead of feeling helpless and frustrated. Do you find that’s true for you?
Synchronicity strikes again. Please allow me some time to write a blog post on this subject. It is on the drawing board already. By and large, I am just practical I think!
Once someone told me that the journey from optimist to pessimist in line with our life’s journey from young to old. I don’t know whether it is true or just half true.
Jean,
Maybe what he means was the struggle in achievement of career.
rummuser,
I’m looking forward to reading your post.
tikno,
I was more of a worrier/pessimist when I was younger. Developing some life skills helps a lot, and that takes commitment and practice.
It is up as my LBC post for Friday.
I’m a bit of both, neither more one than the other. Like, when we moved (and I have a type of agoraphobia, which made it very very tough, as you can imagine) and sold our house, moved into rented accomodation not knowing when or even if we’d find a new home, and this from England to Wales – at that time, I had to keep up my optimism and had to work on it very hard because I had a constant undercurrent of pessimism coursing through me.
Thanks Jean. No particular techniques. The environment we were living in was so stressful that I felt my life was being threatened by it, emotionally if not physically, so really I knew we had to get out of there somehow. I pretty much put my life on hold for about two years. I’m really only just beginning to get glimspes of some kind of normality.
Jean,
When it came to the realities of life then I also difficult to refute.
How according to you?
tikno,
What do you think? Do you agree with him for your own life?
rummuser,
I enjoyed your post.
Val,
That must have been hard. What techniques did you use? How did it turn out? Do you think you developed some skills to make it easier if you ever had to go through it again? That tends to be my approach…if I have to go through the pain I figure I might as well get something out of it. I suppose that could be classified as a form of optimism.
About renting…we’re unusual and have always rented. Our apartment isn’t very fancy, but we’ve lived here for over 36 years now. From time to time I’ve looked at houses to buy, but this is where we raised our daughter and it’s home. I don’t want to move. We love the climate here, but we are getting older and there’s a good chance we’ll eventually have to move to the Midwest (yucky climate) to be closer to our daughter.
Optimist.
I believe in the kindness of strangers.
And chatting to new people.
But you asked for cartoons – so here’s a link to one f my favourites – it has a St Patrick’s Day flavour.
http://wp.me/pDjed-eT
blackwatertown,
Thanks for the cartoon. I like it. 🙂