Why are people required to be either optimistic or pessimistic? Why can't they just be realistic?

Question

Being optimistic always means you can't accept reality and always look for something better. If you're pessimistic, you just don't believe in yourself.
Why can't a person just be realistic and accept and analyse whatever happens. They know whether its going to be good or bad. So why call someone as being positive or negative? Theyre atleast brave enought to accept whats really happening.

Answer 1

That's a cynical way of looking at optimism and pessimism. As I see it, you can be realistic AND choose optimism or pessimism.

Let's say that being realistic means having a clear understanding of a situation. Well, I can do that and put either a positive, or negative, twist on things. Doing neither means that you have no emotional tie to your circumstances. While that's entirely possible, especially with the use of Prozac, it's not that fun and humans were designed to feel, not simply act. If you have passion and a sense of purpose in your life, your heart will respond to your circumstances. So while you still have a realistic view of something, you will either feel positive or negative about it. For example, I'm starting a new job tomorrow. I believe I have a realistic view of it - won't be bad, won't be great, it will be work. At the same time, I decide to put a positive spin on it, and visualize it being a good experience, because this attitude brings positive energy, and positive energy is enjoyable and it can motivate me to put an extra effort into the day and get a little more out of it. And THAT is realistic!

Answer 2

in the first place, nobody is required to be an optimist or a pessimist...
actually these two things do not ignore reality but they copes up with reality...
some people often mistake these two as a way of escaping reality while in fact, they are not...they are actually accepting reality but somewhat distorting it...
based in what you've learned or what you know, what is the purpose of being an optimistic or pessimistic type?? is it because they want to escape something? silly not, that is cowardice... an individual becomes optimistic or pessimistic depending on the environment they are in to...for example again, if you are in a place where everyone seems to be better than you, you tend to be optimistic because you have the desire to be better...Albert Bandura defines this kind of behavior as compensation or striving to overcome one's inferiority... on the other hand, if you are in such an environment wherein you seem to be the dullest or the weakest type, you tend to become a pessimist because you develop inferiority complex...
by being an optimistic or pessimistic, it does not necessarily mean that an individual is escaping the truth...these people who are such are braver than those who stays put with reality because they are able compensate their own weaknesses...

Answer 3

Because everything can be looked at from different perspectives. "It is raining" can be a great thing for the optimist, because the nation is in a drought. It may be a terrible thing for the pessimist because although the nation is in a drought, they hate the rain. It all depends on how you look at it. Who is to say what is "realistic"? "Realistic" is a very ambiguous term and suggests that there is a third party that somehow knows the actual truth. This is often not the case.

Answer 4

I think,by and large most people are quite realistic but what peps them up or gets their goat is their mental make up.No matter what audio-visual inputs we receive,the mind has to grasp it,classify it and then file it.It's the classification part which causes optimism or pessimism as a reaction to the input and affects us accordingly.Similarly,most of us are optimists at times but pessimists at other times,depending upon how our mind has classified the specific inputs.Therefore when we term a person as optimist or a pessimist,we mean to say which trait is predominantly exhibited by that person,in majority of the cases or for most of the time.To say that a person is always highly optimistic or pessimistic at all times,could be a suspected reference to his some sort of a psychological abnormality.(emotions play a major role in making us look or behave like what we do,which in turn are the outcome of our mental makeup).

Answer 5

good point. i think it's because reality sucks a lot of the time, so we have to play mind games to get through the negative times.
Like Johnny gets a nasty hamburger, so we tell him he's lucky to get food at all, cause back in the day, you were lucky if you got a bun with ketchup.
its a motivational thing.
Like death. Most people want to believe they're going to a better place when they die, instead of simply becoming worm food.
Also, people are lazy.. it is easier to deny harsh reality, rather than fix it.
Mrs.B's answer is just about perfect. That is what normal HEALTHY people do.

Answer 6

Its extra useful to be advantageous, yet its much less complicated to pessimistic, and sensible individuals are only sensible :) i'm needless to say pessimistic, yet as quickly as I make an effort i grow to be advantageous :)

Answer 7

u can be realistic. optimististt look at the glass half full, pessimist look at the galss half empty, and realists would look at the glass as half full and half empty. it is possible and perhaps, healthier/better, to be realistic. there are countless people out there.

Answer 8

To many istic questions for me right now.

Answer 9

Because real life sometimes s.u.c.k.s