Pessimism- A new form of optimism????

I will try to ignore the blatant fact that i am writing a post more than six months after posting a post. Today, while I sit in a comfortable couch writing this blog, I cant help but think of a state of mind which almost everyone looks down upon, Pessimism .

                                    I have seen many people and friends closely associated with me who keep thinking too negatively and that whose thoughts are never oriented towards a positive outcome. So, when someone is planning a long road trip, instead of asking what are the beautiful landscapes that we will encounter, they will ask questions like "Hey, what if the car breaks down?" or "What if there is no fuel station for miles and we are stuck with no help?"

                   When one of us encounters such a person, we immediately call him a pessimist and say that he can never see the bright side of anything. One close observation however makes something interesting pop out. The person who we just branded a pessimist, is actually thinking on practical lines isn't he? He is taking into account all the worst case scenarios that could happen and is being prepared for them. Once he knows what he is dealing with, he will actually enjoy the trip better knowing that he has taken care of all the safety issues and hence will have no worries in the road trip.


    This brings us into another interesting statement that many of us have heard. "What is the worst that can happen?" Now rings a bell. If a person is looking at the worst thing that can happen, given a situation, he is bound to be a pessimist right? But no! We can now start thinking.... Have we said the same thing in our lives at various occasions? (and we somehow generally tend to consider ourselves as people saying that the glass is half full don't we?)


I will try not to be too vague and unclear at this point. Let me illustrate an example. In high school, a boy has a crush on a girl, but does not have the guts to ask her out. All his school life, he dreams about that girl, but cannot take a step towards her, or speak to her properly. What do his friends tell him? "Dude, ask her out! Whats the worst thing that can happen? She will say no right? That will happen anyway if you don't ask her out at all. So, its better you at least try!"

So what is happening here? The boy's friends are making him realize what the worst situation possible is. Is that pessimism? Of course not! By knowing what the worst situation is, the boy is better prepared to handle anything that comes in his way. So, the friends are making him more optimistic of the situation by making him realize the worst things that can happen to him. 


This is true generally in many situations that occur in our day-to-day life. Many times we will find people looking at a situation in front of them and trying to think the worst thing that can happen to them in that situation. Knowing that, they are mentally prepared to face anything that comes in his way because anything after that is going to be better than what they have already anticipated. This makes them believe they can do it! ( Optimism??)

So, I guess what I am saying is that there is some optimist hidden in every pessimistic statement made by every individual. They are just trying to make themselves mentally stronger by saying aloud the negative things that they can think of, and secretly knowing that the outcome is always going to be better than what they have said. Therefore, next time if you meet a friend (whom you know to be really optimistic otherwise) and ask him about his ongoing studies, don't be surprised if you hear a reply " Mat puch yaar.......Kuch nahi hua...Aisa hi chalta raha to fail ho jaunga!"