Optimism vs. Pessimism

Viewed according to its essence, optimism and pessimism are both distortions of reality. The first lends an expectation of the positive to a given situation. The second creates a worry of the negative. Both of them have the tendency to throw off one's judgment, tending either towards the positive or the negative.

Ideally, a neutral view of the world is the most advantageous. Ideally, it would benefit one the most if situations were viewed only according to what they really are, how they really exist. This prevents miscalculations and mistakes created my distorted visions.

As so happens, however, the ideal is just that - an idea. Reality presents a different situation. One will always tend towards optimism or pessimism; the only difference is in the degree of these tendencies. One can believe that events will either unfold positively or negatively. It then becomes a matter of not only minimizing the distortions in one's view, but also choosing which distortion to tend to.

While a lot of people would consider optimism to be more beneficial than pessimism, it is in reality not that simple. Both tendencies have certain advantages and disadvantages, all of them acting on one's morale and motivation.

Optimism is a state of mind that causes the mind to believe that the advantageous and beneficent will always occur for the individual. It eases and relaxes the mind, and a relaxed mind is more capable of thinking clearly. Unencumbered by the specter of future failure, the optimist can perform better.

Additionally, the extreme optimist often less stressed and is blessed with better morale than the extreme pessimist, for the optimist virtually guarantees himself success in an action, and therefore already feels victorious.

There are disadvantages to optimism, however - when an individual is convinced of future victory, there is a tendency to prepare less for defeat and frustration. Thus, when an optimist is thwarted, he is caught more unprepared than the pessimist.

The pessimist, owing to his constant view that defeat is at least as likely as victory, prepares more for loss and as a result is more prepared for the constant twists and turns of life.

However, the optimist holds an advantage once more over the pessimist, for the optimist is armed with a positive outlook. Even though he may be less prepared for frustration and defeat, he is more likely to recover from particularly bitter setbacks owing to his positivity. Because he believes that victory is more likely, he will continuously get back on his feet and carry on.

Viewed in this way, even a completely objective view of reality is rendered less advantageous than an optimist view, for while the first only minimizes mistakes, an optimist view allows one to recover and learn faster from it.

Optimism, then, is optimal.