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Pessimism vs optimism and ASD

Trainspotter

Hi all

This is a bit of a rant and it is not referring to Pessimism to the extent that it causes great anxiety, but to the pessimistic vs optimistic character.

I am constantly labelled a "Pessimist".  I prefer the term "Realist"  Constantly having people supposedly jolly all the time around me I can find annoying. 

I hate this 'glass half empty' thing.  I have told people when they say I'm the 'half empty' person that it depends whether the glass is being emptied or filled..  Example: Do you want a top up.  Answer: No, my glass is only half empty.  That to me is not being negative.  However, if the glass has just been poured and stopped before it is filled:  Why is my glass  only half full? That to me is a negative.

Imagine a news story: "Good news, there was a very bad train crash today but only five people were killed!"  People would be horrified at the insensitivity of that, yet it is the 'optimistic' point of view as many more could have met their demise.

I'm sure there are 'optimistic' people with ASD as well as pessimistic ones.  But why do people insist on putting labels on people and then using it as criticism.  We are what we are!  Some of us try to consider that there may be a downside to some things instead of 'everything will turn out ok'.  Considering that there may be a downside is surely better than being led down an alley with no thought as to what awaits you at the end. 

My 'pessimism' is me and no amount of negative criticism from optimistic people will stop it or 'cure' it!

Parents

  • Some quotes:

    The man who is a pessimist before forty-eight knows too much; if he is an optimist after it, he knows too little  (Mark Twain)

    The point of living, and of being an optimist, is to be foolish enough to believe that the best is yet to come (Peter Ustinov)

    The optimist proclaims we live in the best of all possible worlds, and the pessimist fears this is true (James Branch Cabell)

    A pessimist is someone who has been compelled to live with an optimist (Elbert Hubbard)

    If an optimist had his left arm chewed off by an alligator, he might say, in a pleasant and hopeful voice, "Well, this isn't too bad. I don't have my left arm anymore, but at least nobody will ever ask me whether I am right-handed or left-handed," but most of us would say something more along the lines of "Aaaaah! My arm! My arm!" ~Lemony Snicket

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  • Some quotes:

    The man who is a pessimist before forty-eight knows too much; if he is an optimist after it, he knows too little  (Mark Twain)

    The point of living, and of being an optimist, is to be foolish enough to believe that the best is yet to come (Peter Ustinov)

    The optimist proclaims we live in the best of all possible worlds, and the pessimist fears this is true (James Branch Cabell)

    A pessimist is someone who has been compelled to live with an optimist (Elbert Hubbard)

    If an optimist had his left arm chewed off by an alligator, he might say, in a pleasant and hopeful voice, "Well, this isn't too bad. I don't have my left arm anymore, but at least nobody will ever ask me whether I am right-handed or left-handed," but most of us would say something more along the lines of "Aaaaah! My arm! My arm!" ~Lemony Snicket

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