Pragmatic Optimism

I first shared this as a Facebook post on January 19, 2016. Five years later, I still try to follow it:

The traditional question is whether you see the glass as half full or half empty. Are you an optimist, with hope for the best (or maybe just a better) outcome? Or are you a pessimist, projecting your past negative experiences into a bleak future? Are you Pollyanna (how I obsessed over Hayley Mills when I was young) or a world-worn cynic who thinks that the light at the end of the tunnel is a train?

Someone once suggested that an optimist is merely a pessimist with no experience. And McTavish's Axiom states that Murphy was an optimist. But, despite the state of  the world and my personal experiences, if I really believed that there would be no reason to get out of bed in the morning. Unless you are that little guy in L'il Abner with the black cloud over his head, the real world lies somewhere between both extremes and I have developed a philosophy (or survival technique) to deal with it.

I allow myself to believe that anything I undertake can end up perfect. Rainbows and unicorns. Mike Holmes after the reveal. There is nothing special about that, many people delude themselves thusly. But when the thing turns to crap, as happens much of the time, most optimists will be upset and unhappy. The secret of Pragmatic Optimism is to accept that as a possible outcome and not let it get you down. Revel in it. Laugh about it. Like Icarus, believe that you will fly with all your heart and yet accept within that the likelihood of the plunge into the sea. A dichotomy, if you will. By following this creed, I avoid becoming jaded by repeated immolations and am able to enjoy the planning of my next great potential success.

It helps that I am mildly manic/depressive and so understand a bit about the cycles of life and the human psyche. But it keeps me smiling.