Are you a pessimist or an optimist?

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I tend towards pessimism generally speaking.

Neither, I'm a realist.

seconded

“I am not a pessimist.
Just a well informed optimist.”

― Antonio Gala

"Do you know what's the difference between a pessimist and an optimist? A pessimist thinks things can't be worse. An optimist knows they can."

Depends on the day.

Same...
By taking one's rose coloured glasses off, one sees the real world...

A pessimist spends time thinking about and expecting the worst possible outcome. Pessimists try to think of ways why the worst possible outcome they can think of is too optimistic. An optimist thinks things will work out in the end.

I am a pessimist by nature but a lot less so then when I was younger because the worst possible outcome I was expecting did not happen many times.

It's a joke that I originally heard in No Man's Land. A powerful and touching film set in the Bosnian War.

I am definitely a "glass half empty" person who sees the world through smoke-colored glasses. People have lectured time and time again about being too negative, especially my mother who is quite the optimist, but how can I not be, seeing the way the world is and how my life has been? Also pessimism is a symptom of depression so it's not like I'm entirely this way by choice.

I'm such a pessimist that sometimes I'll see I really cool coffee mug and buy it, but I'm afraid to drink out of it because I might break it (it's happened before), so I'll just use it as a pencil holder instead.

I catastrophize over everything that goes even slightly wrong, so probably a pessimist? I think it's more than pessimism, in my case. It's rampant paranoia. I literally imagine the absolute worst-case scenario (a second holocaust, global disasters, social and political changes making my life impossible, etc.) at the slightest hint of anything going wrong. Anything can set it off: "My dog threw up on the carpet! What if she dies? Oh wait... I can take her to the vet. What if antibiotics stop working and she dies?! What if I lose my benefits and I can't afford to keep her healthy?! What if my carpet goes mouldy and I can't replace it and I die of a horrible dog-transmitted disease?! WHAT IF-" And so on.

Realist would probably describe me better aswell, but I do think the term realist, falls on the pessimistic side of the spectrum, as optimism is by definition, idealistic.

Some pessimists are happy to be so so, if the worst happens, they are emotionally prepared for it...


<lostonearth35 accidentally nudges the pencil holder off the table onto the tiled floor>
<he starts to wonder if he is being affected by: "The children of the damned"...>
<do do do do...>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pJdejSLPFc

"Pessimism is just a higher form of optimism. Go through life expecting absolutely nothing from people, and you'll always be pleasantly surprised." --The Innkeepers

^ This.

I'm a pessimist, because I believe that the worst globally/politically/economically is yet to come. I really want to pray, but I feel that gods that be have a different outcome for the plans of this world. I was raised in a religion, and I just don't want to have anything to do with life or existence after death at all, or if so, I wouldn't want interaction with any other soul and enjoy all to myself. I feel punished and like I was born into society "too late". My age group will probably be the first-and-last to inevitably face a nuclear war and all horrible things. Also I'm no ultra-conservative as much as I'm angry at the political left, but I've always heard warnings about things getting worse because of how the left is today. I've even been told by 70s-or-80s folks that "I don't have to worry about anything because I'm 78, but I do worry for my kids and grandkids." I just wish for peace and bliss. I just want my eternal fate to be in eternal bliss by myself or maybe a couple other people.

I'd say I'm a realist with pessimistic tendencies.