Optimistic or Pessimistic?

I dont think that a person is born to be either way. I think we are what we make ourselves out to be. I usually always try to be optimistic. I cant see living my life looking at the negative. A person only gets one life....make the best of it. Yes, there are ups and yes there are downs...but thats is just the way it is. My husband is a pessimist and I really hate that. It puts a damper on alot of things. I, for one, want to look forward to things, want to be happy and excited about things.....if Im let down then so be it...Ill pick up the peices and move on.

I am an optimist and I definitely believe I was born that way. I had a lousy childhood and had some really hard times in my life but always knew things would get better and they always did. I do not know how people who do not look on the bright side and/or suffer from depression can enjoy life. I feel sorry for them but to always wait for the worst to happen is like being without hope and that is sad.

Being an optimistic and a pessimistic is a learned trait. Below is a chart I have seen on the net once. For me I am the optimistic thinker..positive..Unlike the pessimist which is mostly negative in thought. I can say I am an optimist because I take negative actions to negative. Even if things are going wrong I try my best to make things right..I take the risk..When I make a mistake I learn from them and try not to make the same mistake again. Optimistic Thinking Challenge: open to change. take risks. willingness to make the effort. 'I can do it' 'I will try my best' Control: take responsibility for their actions. proactive. 'I have choices and options' 'If I make a mistake I will do whatever it takes to correct it' Commitment: tendency to persist. 'I will keep trying until it works' 'I will make it happen' Pessimistic Thinking Personalize: tendency to take the blame for everything. freeze. 'Its my fault' 'I am bad' or 'I am wrong' Pervasive: tendency to over-generalize. feel overwhelmed. 'Everything I do is wrong' 'I can do nothing right' 'I always make a mess of things' Permanent: tendency to exaggerate. 'It will always be this way' 'Nothing I do will make it change' 'It is always a mess'

Ive always been a bit more pessmistic then optimistic. I think its a combination of things. Internal hardwiring, and upbrining that makes a person one or the other. I had an easy life untill my mid teens yet im more of a pessmistic person. My husband on the other hand had a difficult upbringing and he has always been an optimistic person. SO i think its a combination of envirmental factors and internal hard wiring that makes a person they way they are.

I am inclined to think that we have a certain bias that God didn't really make everyone equal. So some people will grow up being more optimistic or pessimistic. External factors like upbringing, school, environment will all play a role in changing or strengthening this bent.

i don think ppl r born 2 be either optimistic or pessimistic....it depend on the environment u grow up, the ppl u meet...al tis will then result u 2 be optimistic or pessimistic i find myself 2 be a optimistic....tis is coz i believe in myself, trust ppl & things around me....ya sometimes will be disappointed but it only a small part in our life...y should we think so much...u can choose 2 be either happy or feeling worried as it yr life...seem both u hav 2 continue living then y not choose to be happy? hav hope 4 yr future

i have always been an optimistic person.. and i am always telling my friends to always think positive. i must admit there are times where i have doubted things in my life.. but at the end of the day and my worries, my positive thinking prevails. :D and it pays to be positive...

I think we learn through experience what to expect in life. I was an optimist when I was younger but I've had so many bad experiences that I've become a pessimist.

I dont belive we are born one way or another I belive life makes us to be one way or another. I used to be very optimistic I always saw a dash of good or hope in every person and situation. now I still am but not as much as before I wont call my self a pesimist now but my life has not been a bed of roses so been optimistic 100% of the time is not posible for me.

Me personally, I was an optimistic child. Heck I was an optimistic teenager and adult for a while. In the past few years, I have become something more like a pessimist. It sucks, but that is the reality of it. My kids, well for the most part seem to be all optimistic. I think your life is what makes you optimistic or pessimistic. If you are constantly betrayed and hurt when you are young, it is hard to find anything to be optimistic about.

No one born either to be pessimistic or optimistic. It is all depends up on how they acquire this character. Family, friends, circle and the society in which they move shape us to be in any one of these characters. When you don't have high expectations, you would not be affected in failures. Our experience mould our way of life. we have to make corrections on the basis of our experiences.

Im always optamistic., i think it has a great deal to do with the fact that im always happy on the oustside. even though i am mand or sad i dont show it. its like an automatic thing i do i dont know. im usually only pessimistic when i really didnt want to do it in the first place, or its somthing i think i know fir sure isnt wokring, then theres not since of getting hurt thnking it will. i think that is just how ive learned to be.

You said it yourself....skeptical is neither optimistic, nor pessimistic....it's just doubtful. But we need to hope in something better than it is...although doubtful, but it might happen. Why expect bad things to happen, if someone told you something bad is happening soon and only you are able to stop it....are you saying that you won't move a finger? I don't think so... In my opinion our nature is to be optimistic always....only doubtful from time to time, as we know certain things are quite rare. Pessimism can only harm your intentionality and also can put you in a bad mood.

I think I born to be optimistic.As I take something to do,I just tell me"I can".As result of that,I will try as possilble as I can,also,I always be suceesd!

I think man is both a mixture of optimist as well as pessimist...Optimism makes him hopeful about the future and possibility of survival and pessimism is a product of his bitter experience in his life..so its helpful for him to be cautious about his future ..I guess optimism has more to do with mind and imagination and pessimism can be practical approach..

I think being a pessimistic or optimistic can be trained, well at first I think our environmental would usually shape us into an optimistic or pessimistic person, but after we grew, and able to think about our own life, we can choose how we want to think, being optimist or pessimist is merely a choice, now the hard part is when we are developed in a pessimistic environment, and so make us a pessimistic person, when trouble come, we tend to need support in our life more than people that was optimistically build from the start, but its not impossible to change :)

I am optimistic. I wasn't always this way - I learned to be optimistic. When things don't meet my expectations, I look to the lesson I've learned and know that good things still await me.