I am a Pessimist.
And if you are too, then you will very well understand what I am talking about. Since pessimism is not considered a great quality to have instead; I would categorize myself as not so optimistic. An optimist would accept and be proud of his/her optimism but it is not the same with a pessimist and I would wonder why. I still have to meet a person who is pure optimist, based on judgements of scenario, the same person can be optimist and pessimist.
I recently stumbled upon this very beautiful saying which completely changed my perspective towards my pessimism. I don't really know who wrote /said that, but whoever did, I am sure has /had a great depth and understanding of life.
"Pessimists are the best planners", that’s the saying and it has so much meaning hidden in just few words. Would any of you reading this blog not agree to this statement?
Being a pessimist, I would have a backup plan most of the time to any activity that I am planning. While working, if I decide on changing some part of code a bit I would always zip the old code and save it in a different folder. Heck! When I write a document my left hand fingers keep going on Alt-F-S (saving the file) after each sentence completion (or may be its just a habit). If I am shopping and I like something, I would always buy it right then and not wait for a holiday sale. What if that item is not available by the sale season and believe me, there have been some heart breaks few times when I tried to have some optimism there. When I started writing this blog, I also started writing a technical blog, just in case, and the same goes for my technical blog. I guess, cautiousness is built-in in me and I am sure it is built-in in every pessimist. Being cautious does not mean I don't take my chances, I do, but just that I have a fall back.
Ok that said, I think the soon to be famous saying above is quite true. Pessimism to the extent of living a depressed life might not be acceptable but just being plain pessimist, what's the downside. I don't think that I or anyone who is pessimist should hide or feel bad about it. If optimism is something to be proud about, pessimism brings in its own great qualities to the table. I also feel that it makes success more sweeter.
Oh! And for the record, I am not a complete pessimist (whatever that means). Honestly, in doing anything I would always decrease the probability of a successful outcome but then it's never zero...
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Oh! you are the same kinds who say: Only the paranoid survive. :)
ReplyDeleteWe do need people like you around but there's so many already...i mean look at those buggers shouting about climate change and animal cruelty and financial downturns and water scarcity...tiring.
I am off to light my cigar and eat at McDonald's.
@Rashmi...I believe what we are comparing here is not optimism and pessimism. For some group of people working for the community and doing social work gives meaning to their life, for few others earning lots and lots of money is the goal of life, for some people getting fame defines living and then there are few who don't give a damn about life.
ReplyDeletePast studies have suggested that people don't smoke and eat at McDonald's because they are optimistic, instead because either they are too stressed or depressed in life.
So what you are comparing here is liveliness and depression.
Life always is a bundle of contradictions -
ReplyDelete"Be content with what you have, little be it or much, that's the key to happiness"
But -
"Contentment is the end of success"!!
Any theory will work just about as much, there's nothing really right or wrong, as long as you're not an extremer!
U might also get a check up done for OCD :).
ReplyDeletelol..what crap are u talking :)
Kusha
@Sonia.... I agree
ReplyDelete@Baddi...what is OCD? and why do you think it is crap?
@Baddi...wouldn't Pessimism be the root cause of OCD. Although I don't think I am close to extreme yet....But you never know :)
ReplyDeleteSo u confess that ur an OCD patient.
ReplyDeleteHaaaaaaa
Not yet....I still have to achieve a lot to get there ;)
ReplyDelete