Originally Posted by
pusga
As for "big situations", a pessimist might fare better and therefore be happier when it counts, but an optimist can argue that they're generally happier in their day-to-day life. Even if the pessimist strikes the life changing job opportunity, they'll spend their working days concerned and cautious. I know 80+ year old people who are frugal, skeptical and pessimistic.
Agree with most of what you said, but just here I'd like to point out that I did make the distinction that it's probably not best to live your day-to-day live with a pessimistic outlook. As I said, I reckon having properly calibrated expectations (realism) is probably best for day-to-day living.
I'm not sure if an optimist would be happier than a realist, day-to-day. It's an interesting discussion. I would think that the optimists would be constantly disappointed (since their expectations are constantly having a collision with reality).
Originally Posted by 2WC
You're able to see and recognize more and more opportunities to increase the standard of your current situation.
It's the most productive for societal growth:
i.e. Ford had the dream of the Model T.
MLK had a dream of strives towards equality.
Great empires were built on optimism. Great empires were toppled on the same principle.
None of these things would be possible with a true pessimist pov.
Low expectations would seem to result in low standards, I agree. Conversely, high expectations = high standards. There's a quote that I've always liked "Shoot for the stars, so even if you fail, you still land on top of the earth". As I said above, I think in day-to-day living, it's probably best to have your expectations in line with reality.
I'd contend also though, that holding high expectations has it's own set of problems. There's a pressure associated with that - A tension to do with your expectations. And while it's good to aim to be great, not everyone can be Bill Gates. 98% of new businesses fail. When you find yourself at a disconnect between where you think you 'ought' to be (based on high expectations) and where you currently are, it's easy to despair. Just how sustainable is eternal optimism, for most people? Pressure (through high expectations) can make diamonds sure, but pressure can also break shit.
Originally Posted by 2wc
I dont believe this (realism) way of thinking is bad, It achieves the same results as optimism, but at a slower rate.
You might be right here, but I think there is some bad (unhappiness) that comes from marching ahead at this increased rate. Depending on the person, this rate might be sustainable, but I'm sure that for some it won't be.
Originally Posted by sirkill
You are forgetting one very important thing, you manifest what you think. If you always think this day is shit, this job is shit, my life is shit, everything is shit, it's going to be shit forever, and you'll be sad. If you think today is a good day, I am alive, I'm healthy, I might have some setbacks, but thank God I was born American with opportunities for greatness, my life is pretty good, I can do anything, everything will be fine, if it's not fine it's not the end, then you will enjoy living and will get a lot more out of life.
Yeah, with day-to-day living, pessimism ain't healthy. As I said in my OP, it can probably delude you into depression. As I've said to 2WC though, I'm not sure if day-to-day optimism is entirely great either.
"I was born American with opportunities for greatness".... So what does that mean if (when you look around realistically) your life isn't great? You've squandered your opportunities? That's not great. This sort of leads into meritocratic thinking, which I'd argue, ain't too helpful. If your life is great and you're happy and earning a lot of money (and have great friends and family) it's because you merited that (you deserved that). You put in the time and effort and because of that, you are duly rewarded. So what if your life is shit? Meritocratic thinking would have you believe it's because you're shit. You merit having a shit life. That's a cruel way of looking at your own life (and others). Jerry, who lives in a trailer, has a shit life because he didn't put the time or effort in. It can't be that Jerry might have a shit life for a variety of other factors (factors not related to personal effort).
If you have the world saying 'Look at all the opportunities you have, you can be anything' and then you look around and realistically evaluate your own life, that can easily lead to self-loathing. I suppose you could say 'Well just don't realistically evaluate your own life then', but I don't know how long I could realistically keep up that sort of wilful self-delusion - Maybe it would be easier for others who are used to that sort of thing.
Last edited by Ele; Feb 11, 2020 at 08:46 AM.