Are you a Pessimist, or an Optimist?

[Quackers]

Pessimist in the short run, optimist in the long run.

In the long run - we are all dead!

 

[NickyJ]

The Optimist sees the glass as half full.

The Pessimist sees it as half empty.

Skwink asks for a refill.

If this were a posting contest, Skwink wins.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

In the long run - we are all dead!

But our ideas and legacies live on. And your seed, if you're inclined to have children.

 

[GhostWriter16]

Also, I'd like the add my Dolphins freakin' SUCK this year. I'm not too happy about that.

 

[Huayna Capac357]

It depends. I can be very pessimistic sometimes, but I also can be very optimistic. I can't say what I am overall; it changes with my mood and situation.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

It depends. I can be very pessimistic sometimes, but I also can be very optimistic. I can't say what I am overall; it changes with my mood and situation.

I agree . To add to this , one of the best pieces of advice for life that I have read is to try to"let your actions determine your mood and not the other way around" . If you wake up thinking that everything sucks , well it doesn't , and positive action is the key to changing your mood . Likewise if you wake up feeling everything is perfect , well it's not and you need to have your wits about you so you don't make dumb decisions.

Your moods and feelings are so topsy turvey , in some ways due to simple hormones etc . To be a slave to them and just act according to them is akin to being a rudderless ship.

 

[innonimatu]

In the long run - we are all dead!

Yeah, but is that pessimistic, or optimistic?

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

Pessimist.

My pessimisms regarding the long-term have always, always, ALWAYS, turned out to be right.

Neither my optimisms nor my pessimisms regarding the short-term have ever, ever, EVER, turned out to be right.

 

[madviking]

Heavy pessimist.

 

[Disgustipated]

I'm a pessimist who one day believes he will be an optimist.

 

[emzie]

Pessimist in the short run, optimist in the long run.

In the long run I'm a pretty big optimist about my own life, though not for society or the environment.

 

[GenjiKhan]

Pessimist when I'm planning future and Optimist when I need motivation to continue with the plans I made when I'm pessimist .

 

[Zack]

It depends. I can be very pessimistic sometimes, but I also can be very optimistic. I can't say what I am overall; it changes with my mood and situation.

Bingo.

 

[Hygro]

Pessimist.

My pessimisms regarding the long-term have always, always, ALWAYS, turned out to be right.

Neither my optimisms nor my pessimisms regarding the short-term have ever, ever, EVER, turned out to be right.

Funny, the same thing is true about my "optmisms"

The reason that in the long term it turns it to be right, is that in the long term your brain works to complete your predictions. Your brain will help you succeed or fail. It's like when you are riding a bike as a kid when you still suck and might spontaneously crash. You might see a pole up ahead and go "wow, I'm probably going to hit that pole" it doesn't matter that the pole is small and easy to avoid. "I really don't want to hit that pole". And you keep thinking about it and looking at it. And then you hit the pole.

But if you had looked away from the pole and thought about something else, like maybe where you want to ride rather than where you fear riding, you would have missed the pole. It's all self-fulfilling.

 

[bathsheba666]

I'll be a pessimist for the rest of my life.

Luckily, that won't be that long...

 

[say1988]

My pessimisms regarding the long-term have always, always, ALWAYS, turned out to be right.

Self-fulfilling prophecy?

That is the problem with heavy pessimism is that it leads to accepting the bad outcome and not putting extra effort in to get a better one (as you believe it doesn't matter). Of course unbridled optimism can be as bad if not worse, as you put too much into hopeless situations and are not prepared when things do go badly compounding the failure.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

I was referring to my pessimisms about national and world events, not my personal life.

My pessimisms about my personal life in the long term are the same as the short-term pessimism/optimisms I mentioned.

 

[Hygro]

Ah, well then. But anyone pessimistic about the world should make http://ted.com their homepage and start watching vids.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

though not for society or the environment.

Just look at the decline of racial discrimination over the past century. Stuff like Clean Air Acts and banning of CFCs show we care about the environment too. Humanity will always persevere and find the right way.

 

[aronnax]

I'm a realist.

Optimists are very annoying.
"It's not that you can't dance, it's just that you have the mentality that you think you can't dance!"