Optimism, pessimism, and the pesky glass containing 50% water and 50% air

People often discuss whether someone is more the "glass half full" or "glass half empty" type.  We live in a society where it is easy to thrive on negative energy.  We encounter plenty of negative people in our day to day adventures.  But we discover just as many folks who are filled with joy.  We would expect that the more upbeat person would be more content, but is that really true?  Let's first look at the optimist.

The optimist seems to walk with more spring in his step than his negative counterpart.  The world is his.  When the chips are down, he is convinced that he will have the winning hand.  I don't believe that this is a bad way of looking at things.  There is less stress on any given day.  When adversity rears its head, the optimist stands tall, like a sword drawn captain on an attacking flagship.  For a long time I believed that I could beat anything that I had to face.  I'd be victorious in every situation.  I could dig myself out of the deepest hole.  Let's be honest.  This isn't true.  We find ourselves in situations that we must admit failure on.  It happens to everybody.  When the optimist fails, it is a crucial blow to his ego.  His world rocks back and forth making it difficult to keep his eyes fixed on the horizon.  I believe that a great deal of depressed people are optimists who have been struck down.

The pessimist has a different way of looking at things.  Generally he expects failure.  When faced with adversity, failure is a suitable outcome.  When he admits failure he thinks to himself, "Oh well, I figured that's how things would go."  He isn't much worse off.  However, when he triumphs over adversity he thinks to himself, "Holy cow!  I can't believe this!"  He is filled with happiness, more so than the triumphant optimist.  Some could argue that this is the better outlook -- less disappointment, more satisfaction from victory.  The downside to this approach is that the pessimist   can most often be found staring at his shoes as he makes his way from place to place.  Despite being immersed in a world full of vibrant beauty the pessimist misses most.  His one word answers bore those who interact with him.  Yet, I don't think he is depressed in many cases.  In fact he may find himself more content than the optimist.  Life may pass by in a haze but there aren't as many obstacles for the pessimist as the optimist.  Lower quality of life, but steady.

Crossover?  Sure.  I think many adopt pessimism in the spiral down from optimistic glee to depression.  At the same time, when luck turns around and things start going in their favor, many pessimists may begin the journey towards the optimistic lifestyle.  If one is to get stuck in any lifestyle, I would venture to say that optimism is best.  Optimism gives us the strongest chance at succeeding in our ventures.  We just have to be strong enough to stand tall and take that chance.

But me, as an engineer, would simply say that the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.