Optimism isn’t Easy

Have you ever been told that optimism is easy? That being an optimist is futile? I definitely have a bone to pick with this perspective for many factual reasons. 

While I do have a podcast episode dedicated to this very topic, I just wanted to share a brief synopsis of why I believe optimism isn’t an easy stance to have in this life and that it’s not a slur if someone calls you an optimist.

We’ve all heard of the 3 common perspectives that you can carry in this life. You can be identified as a pessimist, optimist, or a realist. If you’re like most people, you probably flow in and out of all of these mindsets at certain times in your life. However, I want to talk about the misconception that choosing to be an optimist is the easy way out. I hear it a lot online and I want to dive into why optimism is most definitely not an easy perspective to have.

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The Pessimist’s Perspective

Scientists have proven that the base nature of the average human is prone to pessimism. Think about how many times you’ve heard the phrase “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is” thrown around in society. A pessimist generally assumes the worst about a situation and I can surely empathize that at times pessimism can seem like the safest path. I’m immediately reminded of MJ’s popular phrase from Spiderman: No Way Home “If you expect disappointment, then you can never really be disappointed.”

While it is a very true quote and a valid perspective, living at a pessimistic level requires little energy from the person holding this mindset. In fact it is the easiest perspective you can hold about life because it doesn’t require you to think or move beyond your default nature. I am not here to judge whether you should be a pessimist or not, I just want to make it clear that being a pessimist is probably the easiest path to take when it comes to these 3 perspectives.

The Real about Realism

Realists accept life as it comes and are more reactive than proactive. Again I’m not here to judge a realist's perspective, in fact I quite admire a realism quote from T.K. Coleman that says, “Being realistic encompasses the negative, but it by no means excludes the positive.” The stance of a realist is neither hot or cold, it is neutral and receptive. Remaining in a neutral or a receptive state definitely requires less energy than striving for a positive perspective and a changed reality but, I will dive more into this in the next paragraph.

The Audaciousness of Optimism

Optimists are committed to seeing the positive side of situations and believe they hold the ability to make good things happen in their lives. This is quite an audacious perspective. Optimists work against their base human nature of pessimism and take action to work against reality and create their own positive outcomes. 

It takes more mental and energetic expenditure to believe beyond your reality and take action to change it, than to believe in the worst case scenario or remain neutral and receptive. Modern day tik tokers call the optimistic perspective “being delulu”, and I think the average human would agree.

All in all, it’s not my goal to tell you to be a realist, pessimist, or optimist. As I stated at the beginning of the blog, most of us are likely to move in and out of all 3 mindsets at certain points in our lives. However, I just want to clear the air that optimism isn’t an easy perspective to carry and it is not a slur. It in fact requires the most action and energy expenditure.

So the next time someone tells you that being an optimist is choosing the easy way out or just wants to make you feel bad for being an optimist, just remember it takes a great deal of bravery and proactiveness to be an optimist in this world.

I’d love to hear what you think about this topic. You can leave direct comments under this episode of the PONDR Podcast or share your thoughts on this topic over at the PONDR Instagram page.