How can pessimism affect our lives and what is its exact definition?
Pessimism, according to the Webster Dictionary means: 1. a tendency to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen; a lack of hope or confidence in the future. 2. a belief that the world is as bad as it could be or that evil will ultimately prevail over good.
Daily Wisdom Word Definition: 1. An attitude that darkens ones perspective based on the negative way they look at their perspective on life. 2. A belief that the glass is half empty instead of half full.
Yesterday, we wrote about optimism. Today, we are writing about its antonym, pessimism, so we can compare the differences in ways that each affects our perspective and outcomes in life. Pessimism tends to put a gloomy cast on everything we do, how we do it, but most importantly, how you SEE it. Pessimism is a choice just as optimism is. We can choose to look at our world in this negative way subconsciously without even realizing it. We can choose to see the glass of water as a glass of stained dark water, almost empty. I am using some extreme examples here, to help you understand that we all have a choice with our perspective, however, pessimism becomes subconscious when events, that aren’t always our fault, in fact, most of the time they aren’t, affect that perspective making it dark and gloomy.
We can choose however, to let these negative experiences affect our outcome permanently without even meaning too. I woke up this morning, early as always, and my first thought was that of pessimism. The first thing I thought, was, why do I have to get up so early to write? My second thought was, it is my choice, and I love to write, so I am going to make the best of it. Yes, I am tired, and a bit of an insomniac, which I can’t help, but I can choose to look at the positive in things. At the very least I can focus on what it is I am getting up for and write something that helps others.
When we focus on others instead of ourselves, we are less pessimistic. We tend to realize that our own situations are not nearly as bad as we thought. In fact, I can look at things in a brighter light realizing as an analogy that I have two legs, and the person I am helping, has only one. I am not suggesting the only way to be more optimistic is realize that others don’t have it at easy as we do, but I am suggesting that by being grateful for the things we do have, we tend to be more optimistic. Look at the Webster definition of pessimism above.
We can also believe in life, that the worst is not only happening, but that the worst will happen. This is the case with someone like my sister. First of all, she doesn’t mean to think this way or consciously choose to, but does think that the worst is going to happen in her life by habit. This is a habit she has spent her whole life fighting to overcome which is positive in and of itself. She, has been single a number of years, and during these years she has devoted much of her time to changing this attitude, but due to her life experiences which she had no control over, there were and are extenuating circumstances that would make anyone think it would be very difficult not to be pessimistic. She constantly, due to being a single mother, without the father of her children playing an active role in their life, had to bear the responsibility of raising two girls alone. She also operated off of fear which can play a major role in pessimism, and this she also chose to fight. For God sake, she lost her first child at the age of three, and this, played a major role in how she saw raising her next two girls by fearing always the worst would happen to them as well, which thank God, it has not.
What I admire most about my sister is how hard she fought pessimism and how her very attitude and sheer self-will got her through it. She was constantly being proactive in changing her attitude which is now more optimistic in itself, so if life deals you a horrible situation like losing a child, and fearing the worst will happen to the next two, you still have the power to work on changing your attitude. That is what she did, and always has done and she has two beautiful healthy young women now, out on their own that she can take the credit of raising, and doing a great job at it because she fought pessimism. We all have a choice in life on how we choose to see it. She chose to fight back. When we have a horrible thing happen to us that is out of our control, we must realize that life moves forward, and there is one thing we can always be certain of, and that is change. Positive changes are now happening in her life, and she has dealt with a bad set of cards and turned them into a royal flush.
Not only did she do a beautiful job raising her girls, she did so with a positive attitude although it was a struggle at times not to fear something would happen to her children just as it had her first child. Behind, pessimism, is usually fear. I say, fear is, False Evidence Appearing Real. F-E-A-R.
I must say, I admire her. She chose to think positive and do her best not to let that fear control her, and she overcame pessimism one day at a time. That was the second Webster Definition of Pessimism, fearing the worst is going to happen in one’s world. We can always choose to fight pessimism, whether we are born thinking this way, or whether it comes from fearing life itself.
Pessimism is a great Wisdom Word because there is so much we can learn from it and move over to thinking with optimism. After all, I have seen these changes take place in real time under real circumstances. I promise all of us, that we do have the power to change the way we think but it doesn’t always happen overnight and it isn’t always easy, but if you ask my sister, I know she would say it is worth it. Which way would and do you choose to live your life? With Pessimism or with Optimism? It is, after all, your choice in the long run.
Thank you so much for reading Daily Wisdom Words today, and God bless you and bless your day.
Samantha LeBoeuf
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