He said, "Wow, you're kind of a pessimist. I never new that."
He said it like it was an interesting revelation, and honestly I found it kind of funny. I'm extremely self-aware--a consequence of years of self-consciousness that I've managed to mostly rid myself of. Therefore, I know that I'm a pessimist.
Actually, that's a lie. I tend to refer to myself as a realist. That glass-half-empty/full question? Normally my answer is: "Um...it's at half?" So it's kind of passive, there. Yet I know that I mostly flip between pessimism and realism; my compromise is calling myself a realistic pessimist.
Then again, that's a lot of labels. And I typically don't like to deal with labels, but occasionally I become a bit of a self-imposed hypocrite so sue me.
Back to the story: said guy who was really surprised that I'm a pessimist then followed up with: "I mean, you're always so bubbly and happy."
It's kind of stuck in my mind (obviously, since that was about a month ago, already). And I mean, here I am thinking: well, normally I try to be in a good mood. I really do try. But at the same time, I value basic acts of honesty so if somebody asks me how I'm doing I might just reply with a bitter-toned: "Awful. Today sucks and I hate everybody."
Maybe it has to do with deliverance. Because occasionally I'll say something like the phrase above, and get a response of: "Wow, you sound really happy about that..."
The point of today's post is that pessimism isn't really a bad thing, in my opinion. Realism isn't, and neither is optimism. Personally, I think it helps me really see the world around me and channel it into my writing: if I thought everything was peachy-keen all the time then I wouldn't see much worth writing about. Being honest with myself about how I'm really feeling, or what I really think about a certain day, also helps me develop my characters; honesty is necessary to dig down deep and really figure out what's at the core of a person (regardless of the fact that my characters aren't actually honest with me most of the time; psh. Details.).
Basically, it's taken a long time to get to this point, but I'm happy with myself. I embrace my occasional bad moods and bitter statements. On days when I'm in a really bad mood, I become the ultimate sass-master. It happens. I'd be a liar if I said it didn't and frankly I've gotten too tired of trying to hide everything I've ever been feeling.
So I mean, pessimism isn't a bad thing. Not when it's totally applicable to my writing life, and not when apparently I handle and "hide" my pessimism so well. I guess. Anyway, like I said, it allows me to be totally honest with myself which, looking at where I am in life now (college) is incredibly helpful.
And I really think this can be applied in another way to novels; more importantly, to the characters in our novels. Pessimism is typically seen as a negative trait. There's actually a lot of negative traits out there. But is there a way to make them, somehow, not seem so bad? In the delivery of them, maybe?
Anyway. Those are my thoughts, at least.
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It pays to be a pessimist, and it could even be considered positive if worked just right. @Rae_Slater explains (Click to Tweet)
Pessimism doesn't have to be bad. @Rae_Slater questions whether the negative can be conceived as positive if used just right (Click to Tweet)
Maybe it has to do with deliverance. Because occasionally I'll say something like the phrase above, and get a response of: "Wow, you sound really happy about that..."
The point of today's post is that pessimism isn't really a bad thing, in my opinion. Realism isn't, and neither is optimism. Personally, I think it helps me really see the world around me and channel it into my writing: if I thought everything was peachy-keen all the time then I wouldn't see much worth writing about. Being honest with myself about how I'm really feeling, or what I really think about a certain day, also helps me develop my characters; honesty is necessary to dig down deep and really figure out what's at the core of a person (regardless of the fact that my characters aren't actually honest with me most of the time; psh. Details.).
Basically, it's taken a long time to get to this point, but I'm happy with myself. I embrace my occasional bad moods and bitter statements. On days when I'm in a really bad mood, I become the ultimate sass-master. It happens. I'd be a liar if I said it didn't and frankly I've gotten too tired of trying to hide everything I've ever been feeling.
So I mean, pessimism isn't a bad thing. Not when it's totally applicable to my writing life, and not when apparently I handle and "hide" my pessimism so well. I guess. Anyway, like I said, it allows me to be totally honest with myself which, looking at where I am in life now (college) is incredibly helpful.
And I really think this can be applied in another way to novels; more importantly, to the characters in our novels. Pessimism is typically seen as a negative trait. There's actually a lot of negative traits out there. But is there a way to make them, somehow, not seem so bad? In the delivery of them, maybe?
Anyway. Those are my thoughts, at least.
Tweet It:
It pays to be a pessimist, and it could even be considered positive if worked just right. @Rae_Slater explains (Click to Tweet)
Pessimism doesn't have to be bad. @Rae_Slater questions whether the negative can be conceived as positive if used just right (Click to Tweet)
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