I am an optimist. If you have read my blogs in the past, you know this. Few people follow pessimists anywhere. Pessimists usually keep themselves and those around them from making any progress or experiencing growth.

I understand that past experiences may cause some people to be pessimists. But I do believe being an optimist or a pessimist is a choice. That choice will often determine the quality of a person’s life and their impact on the lives of others.

Half-Full or Half-Empty?

The Past: An Optimist’s View versus A Pessimist’s View

There are plenty of people in this world who have ugly pasts, but their pasts don’t cause them to be pessimists. They have chosen not to let that happen.

Some examples I have encountered include:

• A cancer patient who sees nothing but possibilities.
• A woman whose husband died in car accident yet believes in her future.
• A mother whose son died in combat, yet focuses on the good her son did while on earth.
• A man who was abused in his childhood and now works selflessly with kids who are going through similar circumstances.
• A Ugandan woman whose husband passed HIV on to her and then left her with four kids to raise. She never stops smiling and now cares for six more children at an orphans’ home near Kampala.

A pessimist’s view of these same situations is understandable. These are serious and heartbreaking issues.

These examples prove to me that we all have a choice. It can’t be easy, but these people have done it. Why can’t others make that choice?

An Easier Choice

Most of us do not encounter this type of heartbreak. Most of us have an easier choice to make than these people. Yet many of us still choose to be a pessimist.

If you are reading this blog, you might be thinking:

I am not a pessimist, I am a REALIST.

To that I say that the only time a pessimist is an optimist is when they call themselves a realist!

Whether I find it easy to be an optimist or not does not mean I am stuck with my current disposition. Both optimism and pessimism are habits.

I change habits one new decision at a time. Each time I make a choice, it makes it easier to make that same choice again. All habits are formed this way.

I could become a smoker this way.  Each time I choose to smoke a cigarette, it makes it easier to choose to smoke again. Each time I choose to be optimistic, it becomes easier the next time I choose it as well.

The Bottom Line:

I don’t have a lot of optimism for people who habitually choose to be pessimistic. The people who others gravitate towards are people who live life with a glass half-full attitude.

If I am in a habit of seeing the negative in most situations, I am less and less likely to try anything new. Because of this, pessimists tend to stay where they are in life. That would be fine if those habitual choices only affected the individual.

Unfortunately, all of us impact the lives of the people we come in contact with. The people we work with and we live with are all either moved forward or held back by our attitudes. The pessimists hold people back while the optimists tend to move people forward.

Whom do you want to spend time with? Whom do you want your kids to spend time with? It’s your choice.

By the way, the pessimist reading this is probably reading this and saying “Yeah right. Nice drivel Dave.” The optimist is probably thinking about whom they can positively impact today.

Question:

What idea can you choose to approach from an optimistic position today?