Why pessimism is more realistic than optimism and how that realism fails us.

Studies have shown that depressed people are both more pessimistic, but also more likely to possess the 'truth' of situations and circumstances. I don't think it's really news to anyone that a bleak outlook on things will lead to a dissatisfied life. And it's not really news that the world is full of (experientially) awful things to possess "the truth" about.

Now, most of us recognize that our perspectives about reality will inform our decision making process about the actions we take. And the actions we take can influence the world we experience.

Example: Sometimes people get stuck in a loop that makes complete sense from where they sit. For instance, if you yell at people and talk down to them, your opinions about other people are going to be informed by their responses to what you are doing rather than how they might be in otherwise ordinary or civil circumstances. You might start to view people in terms of whether they are emotionally weak or strong (due to the resilience required to interact with such hostility) and you are more likely to receive character attacks, physical violence, etc. Your view of humanity will be accurate - most people are emotionally weak, violent, mean, arrogant, etc. And because other people are this way, it makes sense to continue treating people in the way you are treating them.

That example is interesting in the way we perceive other people and things outside of ourselves, and how we'll get a picture of reality that is somewhat accurate (though incomplete). But perhaps the phenomena around pessimism about the self and ones own life is even more profound and life-altering. And I think part of it has to do with predictive power.

Example beliefs:

I am worthless and nobody will ever hire me.

I am worthless but somebody will hire me.

I used the same premise here that "i am worthless" because I think most of us hear know that some abstract, concrete valuation of individuals is a funny idea. So yea, we're worthless, which isn't a negative - it's the absence of a thing. But from the premise we have two different predictions. One say nobody will hire me and the other says somebody will hire me.

To be fair, it might not make any sense to be making future predictions, but that's kinda something our brains seem to do naturally, with or without our consent. So if we're not trying to curb our minds from making predictions like these, both predictions actually have some influence over the outcome.

If you believe nobody will hire you, then why in the fuck would you put in the effort to apply anywhere? Nobody likes filling out applications. Most people don't like job interviews. And the defeatist attitude will register in small social cues that you might not be able to control (and won't try to control if they won't hire you anyway). If you truly don't believe anybody will hire you, your predictive power is actually really high. You have a lot more control over preventing yourself getting hired than you do in getting yourself hired.

The person who believe they will get hired could actually have a really low predictive power, depending on a ton of factors. Their charisma, skills, history, types of places they apply, how many places they apply, their appearances, the culture they live in and whether they fit norms, etc. However, believing that they will get hired is more delusional than not because they can not control the outcome.

So in summary, despite having stronger predictive power and being more aligned with the truth, the pessimist has confined themselves to a life where the things they want and need won't come to fruition. The optimist leads a life in which they increase their chance of success, but also risk the pain of disillusionment and of being wrong.

I personally broke the chain of pessimism and built a life I want to live by approaching life as a scientist. Sure, I will still make predictions about the future - sometimes optimistic, sometimes pessimistic. But I bury my head in the details of the tests that would achieve the results I seek. And in that process of approaching things more scientifically, I learned how to better accomplish what I set out to do, and experience optimism as something that makes sense for me to feel, since it is more likely correct than incorrect due to knowledge, perseverance, and skills that I've acquired over the years.

And I am happy trying things that I expect to fail at. It's frustrating at times to feel incompetent or inadequate toward the dream I'm trying to realize. It's sad to discover that something I thought would be awesome really isn't for me, but then I'm on to the next thing (or continuing to do all of the other things I've learned and incorporated into my life). And some things I keep circling around and trying again, hoping to be in a place where I can do it and enjoy it (writing and music).

I got off track here because I'm a retarded ape who currently refused to edit anything he writes. This is fistonietzsche, farting excessively for unknown reasons. Good night.