Pessimism: Is it really a good thing or a bad thing?

Philippines
September 14, 2011 11:09am CST
I've always been very pessimistic ever since I was young. I rarely like or become confident of my actions. I feel like everything I do will be rejected; I feel like everything I do isn't good enough. I did consider doing my best though but in the end I realize what if my best wasn't good enough? That the best and everything I could do was not enough? To make things simpler, I'm afraid of being rejected. I feel like when I get rejected I would be the most worthless person in the world. That's why when I do/make something (school projects, etc.), I get ahead of the result. I will tell myself that I got a bad score, even though I don't have the result yet. In that way it'll be much easier for me to accept it when I finally receive the actual result of what I did. For me, too much expectations lead you to frustration. When I expect things to be good, like I'll get good grades, I always, ALWAYS, get the opposite, even though I studied. After that I will totally get mad of myself, and then I will feel very depressed and degraded, like I'm so dumb. The lesson I learned: Expect things will not go as planned. I don't know but ever since I became pessimistic life became much easier for me. I know it's funny. Since when pessimism became good? Well, I really don't know! Some says it's a sign of lack of self-esteem and will not bring you a good future. But I love myself so much. The fact that I became pessimistic is because of that reason. I love myself so why would I let myself get hurt? It also helped me survive and endure harshness of reality, didn't I? Or did it actually hide me from the beauty of life? Well I don't know! I guess I'm just stupid, weird, or whatever! Sometimes I think I have a psychological problem of some sort! Anyways, thank you all for having the time to read this. I just want to apologize if you find my problem too bizarre or something! Thanks for having your time reading this, I really appreciate it! Good night! =D
5 responses
mariahhh
@mariahhh (1327)
• United Arab Emirates
4 Oct 11
I am like you. I have been a pessimistic since birth and I don't have any idea how to change it. Yes, people say "just think positive" and so on, but it's not that simple. Pessimism is never a good thing. The way I handle things is very different because I'm pessimistic. I had become so insecure about myself, about everything. Every night before I sleep, I will always remember all the things I've done and said the whole day, and will always feel like I did something wrong. Because of being negative, I had become defensive, and now I could not change it.
lampar
@lampar (7584)
• United States
3 Oct 11
It is mostly your state of mind that allow pessimism to exist, i would say it is not such a good thing to have this type of personality. You probably will miss many opportunity in your life if you continue to hold on to your pessimistic view on your own action each time you execute it and on the world surrounded you. The pessimism inside you is counter-productive and will discourage you to persue excellency in whatever you intend to do, it is just not the right attribute for one to reach the highest goal he want to in life. You need to do somethings about this and begin to take back the control of yourself and build up your own confidence by choosing to remain optimistc instead of persimistic on your action with the help of a therapist or a psychologist.
granite_butterfly
@granite_butterfly (448)
• Canada
20 Sep 11
Are you a pessimist or a realist? Having common sense and experiential learning leads people to the knowledge that bad things happen to people. As a defense, I don't see being a pessimist as a bad thing. It is a self protective measure to avoid the let downs you have come to know. I certainly understand how people become this way. Maybe life will deal you a good hand and you will find yourself becoming more optimistic one day.
rebel_woman06
@SIMPLYD (90717)
• Philippines
23 Sep 11
In your case, i guess pessimism is a self defense. You don't want rejection, but still you are strong. But if pessimism will make you be in misery , then it becomes bad. I think, you have to be strong to face reality. In life, we don't always win. You have to be optimistic that if ever you lose today, there will still be a time to win. Whenever you do things , there should always be options. If one of them fails then go for no. 2 . But if all else fails, don't despair because there are still other times to win. Just pray for strength and guidance always.
Rosa26
@Rosa26 (2616)
• United States
20 Sep 11
I think you don't have to feel afrid of failing or rejecting those things are part of the life anmd we have to learn to live with that. In the life only can happen to two one of two things a yes or a no, and with both of them you are winning. So smile, because you are alive and this is your day God created for you, so have fun!