Pessimism/Negativity/Skepticism

[miggslives]

I have always been a pessimistic person. I always look at the glass half empty, or the glass smashed into a million pieces. I have done it since I was a child. I would always hear of things that people do / have done, and think: holy shit. Humans fucking suck. Humanity is doomed. How can we go on like this forever?

Given a situation, I always weigh out a billion negative possibilities before I give way to the one positive possibility I am searching for. Whenever I see someone make a statement or a guarantee, I am always skeptical. I watch commercials like a fucking hawk and run through them: bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.

I see all these young children and girls getting snatched up every week and teachers in relationships with young students, and people getting murdered over love, drug, and money. And I think to myself, this stuff happens literally ALL THE TIME. And not only that, it has been happening SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME.

When I say I feel down. Someone says, "hey, it'll be fine man." I'll immediately retort, "how could you know that? just because you say it'll be fine, doesn't mean it will." And I am a strong believer in mind over matter, but the problem i my mind won't let me just lie to myself.

So I have always had a very negative outlook on life and humanity.
Can anyone else relate? Is it common for us to see things this way? Or am I just a really negative person.

For me, it comes down to "the reality of things." And for me, I feel that yes, in reality, without all the loving sugar coating from media, the world is really a messed up place. The only reason people are not aware is because the powers that be specifically made it so that people do not see what goes on in the world, so that they feel that "everything is just fine."

 

[Vrecknidj]

I can relate, but, I had to give up that focus because it was just too poisonous for me. Yes, the world is swimming in jerks, from one horizon to the other.

Alas, I can swim against that tide.

I don't, however, think that the "only" reason people are not aware is because of the powers that be. I think, in the USA anyway, there's a huge tendency toward willful ignorance.

 

[downsowf]

So I have always had a very negative outlook on life and humanity.
Can anyone else relate? Is it common for us to see things this way? Or am I just a really negative person.

Do I have a cynical view of humanity? Yes.

However, over time, I have come to the realization that I can have an impact on my own environment, based on my actions and words, and while there is very little I can control in regards to all of humanity, I can't help but adopt a positive view about the self. When I think about how I can constantly create then recreate my path in life, and start over at times, it's hard not to become excited about the possibility of certain opportunities. Where it all leads to? I don't care. Probably nowhere. I'm enjoying the journey though.

 

[miggslives]

Oh yes, it is so poisonous to me. I hate that I do it, but it's like...the way I think. And I try hard to look the other way and give things more credit in good light, but something bad happens to me and I plunge back into the depths of hell.

And I know I'm young and possibly very naive, but I know that I observe things much more than most people my age, and at least am consistently pondering about them.

How did you give up on that focus? What positivity helped to alleviate all the negativity?
Cause I am always trying to be happy, and my friends always tell me to stop worrying and be happy, but it's tough

And yeah, that was only one of the many reasons people are entirely oblivious. Not sure why I said "the only." I guess I was putting emphasis on the ignorance, haha. That was just one example of the pessimism towards those in authority positions. I give just as much credit to iPhones and celebrities eating ice cream at baskin robins.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

It is all about perspective. What you focus on will determine the way you see reality. There are distortions, so choose the least harmful distortion, I suppose.

This ^


Global awareness screws with your sense of compassion, and attitude towards life. Unless you plan on traveling to other nations and directly helping other people, watching the news and reading the articles will only suck your soul dry. Just deal with what's in your immediate life.

 

[skip]

I think it's very common with us, just not very useful. CBT and meditation can help.

 

[cerebedlam]

Pessimism/Negativity/Skepticism is what others would say about our general outlook...WE would just say that we're being Objective/Realistic/Practical.

 

[NinjaSurfer]

fuck this thread I'm not reading it.

 

[miggslives]

Pessimism/Negativity/Skepticism is what others would say about our general outlook...WE would just say that we're being Objective/Realistic/Practical.

^^ THIS is always what I tell people.

 

[defghi]

I have never felt the need to consider the actions or ideals of random people. When I see a news story about some fucked up shit, I don't think "humanity sucks", I think "the news sucks for showing me this garbage as entertainment". When someone tells me "it'll be fine" I laugh at their presumption and say "yea, maybe". When I hear about murders crimes etc., I don't think about how sad they are, I think about justice and being better than that.

I'm naturally skeptical and critical of anything that doesn't make sense, but it rarely crosses the boundary between me and the outside world to actually affect my attitude, so I generally have a positive outlook. Other people probably think I'm pretty negative though so.... Anyway, I think the best way to stay positive is just to be good yourself, and then keep yourself separate from the trash in the outside world.

 

[creep]

I used to think that way. I'd look at everything and it'd be a consistent reminder of how shitty the rest of the population was/is and it'd just piss me off. I see things no differently - people are fucked up but I've come to enjoy it, myself included(I now refer to myself as a 'people.'). In reality, the world is a messed up place but I'm just not interested in critiquing something so basic anymore. People are people and will continue to do what people do - build and destroy. Really, I quite like it. It keeps it interesting.

More to you, it seems as if you are actually being pessimistic rather than realistic. Reality is hell and(in, perhaps? sugar in hell.) sugar, not simply hell. I can see that in relation to your peers you would seem to be realistic because you focus on the negative but that's just it - it's just your focus. Your peers focus on the positive which makes them seem blind and you focus on the bad which makes you seem negative.

We'll go with that - life is sugar in hell.

 

[intpz]

I'm overly negative at times according to others, however I see it as being realistic and objective instead.

I also don't think things like you do, instead I analyze it a bit and see what's up with it. I don't think "wow, someone killed somebody, world sucks, I'm gonna check out the train rails now," that's just plain stupid. First of all, the newspapers and TV sucks for exaggerating those stories and putting them out, but without that - there would be very little of media. Secondly, there are fucked up people who do that shit, I don't do it, as long as it doesn't happen to me, it doesn't bother me. In fact, it's fun to see how the world is devolving and evolving at the same time. I don't get all fuzzy and warm or weak and frustrated because someone got lucky or someone got killed, or whatever the fuck has happened somewhere on the world. However, some of those events are interesting and funny, or even idiotic in an ironic sense.

That kind of view seems more global, more pessimistic environmentalist kind of view. Passive activist. See the oxymoron here?

 

[Ninjamanda]

How did you give up on that focus? What positivity helped to alleviate all the negativity?

Cause I am always trying to be happy, and my friends always tell me to stop worrying and be happy, but it's tough

I was quite a depressed child growing up and I understand how you feel when you talk about trying to be happy. My friends didn't get it so I spent a lot of time pretending to be happy but not being able to understand the feeling.

It took a long time to find my own personal definition of happiness. Up until about 2 or 3 years ago I didn't know how to just be neutral or content. Happiness is something you have to learn. I don't believe it is just handed to you. Everyone learns at different times.

I just started focussing on things that I loved. I try to do small things that I enjoy as much as I can such as watching my favorite tv shows, taking long hot showers, going beer exploring, playing video games and what not. I turned these tiny things into the significant things in my life and it helps to drown out the crappy stuff. You learn to appreciate the things you have power over in your life, things that you can give yourself.

Little by little I gained the knowledge of how to make myself happy. I am not quite there with everything but now I am rarely depressed. So don't give up even if it seems hopeless.

Someone once told me that I should just focus on things that I can control and that helped me on my way.

 

[pjoa09]

I am quite optimistic.
I hope so.
I like to say "it's okay","it happens", and "give it time".

Or it could just be apathy.

I guess I have that 'blow off' , 'blow up' mechanism.

The news has never been able to piss me off.
I got mildly aroused on the Miami zombie thing.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

Pessimism/Negativity/Skepticism is what others would say about our general outlook...WE would just say that we're being Objective/Realistic/Practical.

I'd like to agree but I think I actually am more pessimistic/negative/skeptical. Having an objective view of a situation doesn't mean you have to devalue and avoid it(pessimistic), it could also mean that you can have a sense of optimism and an idea of practical achievement that is based on the reality of the objective situation.

 

[cerebedlam]

I'd like to agree but I think I actually am more pessimistic/negative/skeptical. Having an objective view of a situation doesn't mean you have to devalue and avoid it(pessimistic), it could also mean that you can have a sense of optimism and an idea of practical achievement that is based on the reality of the objective situation.

This itself is a great point for debate...I think that when we apply a truly objective worldview, we're also applying a 'reductionist' worldview to some extent...At least, I know I am...And, when we reduce something down to its bare constituents, in order to see that thing 'objectively', we're also removing the 'emotional charge' from it...the positive or negative charge that would come from seeing that thing as a whole, subjectively valued as good or bad by oneself or society...So, when viewed as just a mixture of seperate, and un-emotionally charged parts, we tend to unitentionally, but naturally devalue the whole, which easily leads to the trio of pessimism, negativism and skepticism...if one is so pessimistically inclined, of course. Which, I believe, the INTP is, by nature.

 

[GeneralPatton]

I know how you feel miggs. My parents forever told me I was always seeing things negatively. However, in recent years I've tried repeatedly to make them understand that I'm just a realist. I look to the situation and the possible outcomes, and based on my own speculation decide the chance that it will be positive/negative/neutral. All things being equal, it seems that keeping the status quo and remaining constant always wins. Being unwilling to take a chance that I see as an unnecassary low odds gamble is translated by some people as negative, whilst I think it's looking more at the situation and only gambling when the odds are in my favor. I tend to take the whole glass half empty or full thing and pose more questions, IE....am I drinking or pouring, buying or selling? While they may seem overly complex to most, its the little details that can sway my opinion one way or another, and for that it seems i'm always damned to be seen as negative. (not that I really care in the least bit what others think of me) Maybe your percieved negativity is simply your own self defense mechanism against failure, if you don't think the odds favor you?