Life is full up and downs, we’ve been told that a million times. They also told us that truth is a bitter pill to swallow, they forgot to tell us to swallow it. They tell us to embrace the pain, but they forgot to tell us how. The truth is heavy to hold on to, so our minds created something better.
We couldn't bear to stare at despair, so we created hope. Hope is addictive, it’s necessary I must say. But then, there are negative hopes. The type that makes you forget reality; the type that makes you feel you can conquer, even though you have nothing to conquer with.
Don’t get me wrong, believing in your dreams is different from hoping they come true. Example; an optimist starts a business and is confident that everything is going to work out, he sticks to positive energy while he sings “Bad energy stay far away”. A pessimist in the other hand believes in the business, yet knows it can fail. So he comes more prepared, by having at the back of his mind that things can get worse or better. For the optimist, if the business succeeds then life continues. But if it fails, the tendency of the optimist becoming a nervous wreck and getting worse is as high as a kite. When the business fails for a pessimist who foresaw the shit storm, it will still hurt but as not as much as the optimist whose only mantra is positive energy. Below is three out of the many characteristics of a pessimist:
EXPECTING LESS IS MORE
Pessimists do not expect a lot; they do get happy with the little things they get out of life. They appreciate life better, with all her monstrosity.
Hope is a creation of helplessness, when we are at our wits end and in despair. Hope is what keeps us going, however most of our hope is born out of the need to give ourselves a false sense of serenity. Deep inside we know things might not go our way, but the voice that tells us the truth, has been muffled by constant feeding of the false sense of calm with hope. For a pessimist, hope is not used as a last resort or as a go-to when desperate. Hope is used as motivation, the sentence “if I hope to do this, I have to do this and that to make it happen” can be considered as motivation rather than wishful thinking.
KNOW WHEN TO GIVE UP
A Pessimist know when to give up, knowing when to give up is a good tool to have. People either give up too early or give up too late. Chasing your dreams is cool, what if your dream isn’t worth chasing. Doing what you love is cool, what if it doesn’t love you. I’m not saying you shouldn’t chase your dreams, or have goals or any other bullshit a motivational speaker will say. I was a dreamer myself, then I came to realise that, for dreams to come true, one has to actually stop dreaming and start working towards it. And while working towards it, also know that the dream may not come through. That is life, it just hurts.
PLAN B
A pessimist always has a plan B, being a pessimist you hardly get shocks when things don’t go your way, for you knew it could happen. That’s why having a Plan B should be a priority. The quote “If you have a plan B, your plan A isn’t good “might be one of the stupid quotes I have ever seen. If possible, you want to have a plan Z I’d say go for it.
Be an overbearing optimist, blocking out reality than facing it or living life with the utmost preparation and awareness of consequences. It all depends on choice, and if at this point you are wondering if pessimism not just negative thinking? Well you maybe right and you maybe wrong.
Jawondo Jr.
