Benefits of Pessimism(sp?)

[cracked]

i was thinking the other day how bad it is to be pessimistic, but then a thought occured to me. if you are a pessimist, and always expect the worst(and rarely does the worst actually happen), then you will almost always get better than expected therefor making you happy. whereas if you expect the best which also rarely happens, you will mostly get let down, a little if not a lot let down. interesting, huh?

btw, im not a pessimist, but this is still interesting. care to prove me wrong? im not saying my thoughts are 100% accurate, but they do seem to be. what are your thoughts on the matter?

drew

[RADAR1797]

ah, but a bad attitude will many times result in bad expeiriences.

-RADAR

[cracked]

true, true.....

drew

[JacobM5727]

...nope.. things are still getting worse

I doubt many pessimists see the good of many situations.

Even if things aren't too bad, they figure they can get a LOT worse.

Now an optimist will always be thinking of the good things that WILL happen, regardless of how bad it is.

Pessimist: cup is half-empty, it's gonna be empty soon.

Optimist: cup is still half full, that means I still have half of it left!

I don't agree pessimists will be happy if things seem OK - they don't believe it will last. They remain convinced that things are gonna get worse: it doesn't make them happy when things get worse, just more convinced they are right to be pessimistic.

Optimists on the other hand always find something to be cheerful and hopeful about. If an optimist and a pessimist get thrown into a cage with hungry lions, pessimist will say, "We're gonna get mauled to death!" ; optimist will say, "I always wanted to pat a lion, now's my chance!"

IMO, anyway.

Cheers
Mick

[vass0922]

I'm not a pessimist... I know things can get worse


something like that?!

[Dax_Brandy]

"expect the worst!" at work, school, house, or anywhere. I just don't expect too much that something good or bad is going to happen. but sometimes i agree that it is better to expect not the best results out of the situation. you get disappointed if it turns out bad.

[Theophylact]

An optimist is one who believes this is the best of all possible worlds; a pessimist is one who is afraid the optimist is right.

(Can't remember the source... )

[cyphen]

I like it, Theo!

I've actually adopted a similar way of thinking in moviegoing:

LOWER YOUR EXPECTATIONS! Then, crappy movies don't seem so bad, and decent movies seem GREAT!

It's all about perspective... <stands on desk>OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN!