The glass-half-full, and the glass-half-empty.

An analogy all too familiar, is it not? Between the various “motivational” speaking examples and lifestyle thingies, a very distinct proclivity is shown to appreciate the “positive” outlook, à la glass-half-full. It is unhealthy to focus on the other half, they say. We can do without such negativity, they say. And at time, I get this feeling that some of us take this to the utter extreme, that is, being compulsively optimistic.

But why are you complaining, Aswath?

That may be a fair question. After all, who doesn’t like their next person brimming to full with optimism, pushing you out of your slump and getting you back into the flow? The ever reliable dose of positivity when times get trying? It is unfair to say that optimism by itself is something puerile, just as it is to say that the opposite is supposedly a ‘defence mechanism’. Both adjectives can be swapped, and it depends on the person, and dare I say, the context. It is this “context” part which brings me to my initial thought of a compulsive optimist.

The pessimist sees the dark tunnel, the optimist sees the nearing lights and the realist sees the train running towards them.

But before we consider the issue at hand, let us visit the diametric opposite, the eternal pessimist. The cynic, the “unpleasant vibe” fellow or whatnot. Here, one can easily spot the issue, which is that one does not need to always consider the worst outcome as the working reality and that a clear understanding of the circumstances can do a world of good. And to a great extent, that is true, as well. Nobody likes being told a “not possible/not feasible/not good/useless/pointless” or similar responses, or being told to always consider an ulterior, hidden agenda in anything happening around them, or to them. One needs a healthy, but very pointed, level of cynicism in life just to prepare for an eventuality they may not desire. A professional analogy is engineering, where the working hypothesis is always that a component will fail, and for good reason. Robustness in product, service, or people is oftentimes an end to which some dose of suspicion is an instrumental tool.

But just as an overdose of the half-empty attitude is unpleasant, I am coming to realize of late that the compulsion to always see the half-full is just as troubling. And worse yet, I am beginning to think we give it a free pass because it counts as “good vibes” or something such. I don’t know about you, but if someone is telling me to appreciate the beauty of water when I am sinking, I will have a thing or two to say, and nothing nice at that. Just as the compulsive pessimist ignores the possibilities, the compulsive optimist ignores eventualities. He conditions himself to assume that everything happening has a grand reason, almost religiously, to not see the problem in front of him as a product of his doing, but the “next opportunity”.

He pushes himself to attribute a positive message to a negative atmosphere, to discount the intention of someone, or something, and supplant it with his worldview which does not allow him to get hurt, or angry, or irritated. He, like the compulsive pessimist, ignores reality and scorns the realist, even if he does so to “implore on the possibility” of things getting better. He will not listen to the signs given by his wearing out body, and mind building the pressure, and when it all comes to a peak, he just takes some time off and continues to preach and practice his religious adherence to seeing the filled half.

Nothing is perhaps more cumbersome, and pointless, as an optimist in a world coming to crash. And this has been the latest of my realizations, that one does not necessarily have to always move with the positive outlook. It is definitely helpful to see the half full, but it is imperative to remember the half empty. Until then, we will not look for water to fill the rest of the glass. Or, it will perhaps not allow us to grow.

After all, is it not the purpose of life? To realize one’s own shortcomings and learn to overcome those?

Food for thought.

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Do you perhaps agree with my opinion? Please do leave a comment and/or a share!

[Disclaimer: This article was originally published in my medium page on 20/Feb/2023]