For A Pessimist I'm Pretty Optimistic

I had once read a joke which went like this:

Pessimist: It can't get any worse than this!

Optimist(very happily): Oh yes it can!

Optimism and pessimism are a world apart. If people were to be quizzed as to which approach is better, most people would agree on optimism. The truth however is that every person is different and their approach to life is different. Pessimism and optimism are just two different approaches people adopt to deal with various complex situations in life.

I believe that every person has a little of both optimism and pessimism in them, although their ratios might vary. Frankly, extreme optimists are just delusional, they seem to see the world through rose colored goggles and refuse to take them off. Extreme pessimists, on the other hand, are just sad and hopeless as they only seem to notice the dark side of any event. I believe that optimism and pessimism have their own set of pros and cons. Hence, it is important that one use it to their advantage as per the demand of a situation. Everybody wants to progress in life. In order to progress it's important to keep moving; however, making sure that you don't go backwards is equally germane. An optimist is easily motivated if her work is applauded and praised, but she usually is not good at handling criticism. A pessimist however refuses to believe that her work is perfect; to motivate her, one has to tell her where she can rectify in order to achieve perfection.

Honestly, too much of optimism gets sickly at times. Optimists are known for there farsightedness. Maybe, eventually everything works out and neatly falls into place. But what about right now? Fracturing your leg on the night before your semester exams, what can possibly be good about that? How can anything good ever come out of a punctured Tyre when you are already running late for an important meeting? Where is the silver lining behind a woman being raped and killed? It's wrong to believe that our world is the worst of all possible worlds. But believing that it's the best is plain denial. The truth is that the world won't be a better a place unless we directly start contributing to it. I am not a psychologist, hence I do not know which is correct or which is wrong. All I know is that different circumstances require different approaches and optimism and pessimism can both be used to one's advantage.

Optimism and pessimism go hand in hand. One teaches us to dream and keeps our hopes high while the other keeps us in touch with reality. One strengthens our ambition and make us determined to achieve our goals, the other prompts us to keep a plan B just in case. Optimism and pessimism are two very different and yet very effective strategies to cope with life. After all there's nothing wrong with hanging out on cloud nine, but for goodness sake, wear a parachute!