How to Stop Being A Pessimist - Part 1

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Uploaded by on Aug 7, 2010

What Can Cause Pessimism?

1. For some people, a pessimistic attitude serves as a source of sardonic humor and might even be a coping mechanism. They might feel they are actually warding off negativity by being prepared for the worst. They believe that "If you continually expect the worse, you are apt to be pleasantly surprised a lot. However, if you always expect the best, you may be disappointed frequently." This is considered a reasonable rationale for pessimists. In reality, this approach hurts them twofold: Once when they are mentally and emotionally preparing for the hardship and once again when it actually occurs. Either way, they're gonna feel bad whether misfortune strikes or not, as opposed to the optimist who has a 50-50 chance of not feeling bad at all. In the case of true optimists, they might not even feel bad when disaster does come their way.

2. Lack of organization is also an important factor. People get overwhelmed and stressed out in today's fast-paced world. When you don't realize just how many things are going on around you, it's hard to focus on how to put them back in order. So it's only logical that you're going to feel lost and everything's going to seem dark and gloomy.

3. Another cause of pessimistic thinking is that the people around us have a great impact on how we feel. Pessimistic people have a way of dragging those around them down to their level. So some people may become pessimistic because they hang out with pessimists. If you have negative family members then that's even worse, coz you can't avoid them as easily as negative friends. If an extended family member is negative, you can choose to live away from them or at least see them less often. But if it's an immediate family member who you live with and can't escape that easily, then you will simply have to learn to ignore their negativity and focus on keeping yourself positive in the midst of it all.

4. The most common reason for pessimism is complaining about unsatisfying circumstances. Complaining about how unhappy you are seems like the easy thing to do. It's a simple and effortless way to let off steam and get some instant relief. But it doesn't solve your problem. In fact, it reinforces it, because just sitting around complaining keeps you from actually doing something to solve your problems.

5. But the major cause of pessimism is usually subconscious. It's in the way you were brought up and taught to think. It's in the way your parents used to think about negative events and that way of thinking has been passed down to you. But don't worry. That can still be changed!

These are all causes that can be prevented and countered. All you need is the will to change. What you have to realize, is that -- no matter what your age, gender or ethnicity may be -- it's never too late to stop being pessimistic! You always have a chance to change for the better.

The Health Hazards of Pessimism

In a recent study, it was found that your attitude affects your health!
Compared to optimists, pessimists are more likely to develop heart disease, to have diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, depressive symptoms, and are more likely to smoke, be sedentary or overweight.

But there is also an indirect way optimism impacts your health:

Pessimists are less active in improving their health because they don't see potential health problems as fixable. Instead they feel hopeless and give up on themselves. Optimists are more likely to take action, like eating better, exercising, and getting checkups at the doctor's office. A non-optimist is less inclined to take those actions because they feel it won't make much difference. And their lack of positive action makes them statistically more likely to die prematurely.

Negative attitude shortens your life, because pessimism takes a toll on your immune system. The more often you become angry, upset, stressed or frustrated, the more you are ruining your immune system. I know it might sound extreme, but you are shortening your life every time you let negative emotions overtake you.

Your negative mood affects people around you. You should never make others feel bad because if you turn them into a pessimist, they will in turn add to your misery with their own moaning and groaning.

A negative attitude produces negative effects. Every cause has an effect and so your negative attitude produces negative circumstances. Mostly people think it's the other way round, but that's not the case. Your thinking causes your circumstances. Then those circumstances make you feel bad, thus producing a vicious cycle that's very hard to escape.

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Uploader Comments (bukroot)

  • A pessimist is just what an optimist calls a realist. That's pessimistic.

  • @liamjd1 Actually, a "realist" is what pessimists call themselves so they don't feel like they're missing out on what the optimists have. THAT, my friend, is pessimistic.

  • those are for stress and for anger right now it's people getting up in my grill and getting me in trouble ive been this way but I controll it good but it's currently in teenage years so far

  • @matt19245 ok. well by the sound of it, none of this has to do with pessimism. you need anger management. from what you tell me, none of your reasons are actually serious enough to justify your angry responses. if you are getting serious rage so easily you might want to consider anger management classes, because I'm not qualified to handle serious cases.

  • overloads of homeworkm

  • @matt19245 Homework may seem like a lot right now, but it becomes a lot more in college, so it's something you need to condition yourself to just plow through whether you're mad or not. there's really nothing you can do about it. It is what it is.

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  • @matt19245 Well for one thing, school grades are something that is in your hands to change, if you don't like them. Getting mad does nothing to help.

  • bad grades for school

  • @matt19245 I do, but I don't get on that often. It's better if you send your messages to my youtube inbox. Just go to my channel and click "Send Message". That way I'll answer you faster.

  • @matt19245 Is there a specific pattern to the things that make you stressed, sad and angry? What sort of situations make you mad? Have you always been this way, or did it start when you became a teenager?

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