Every once in a while I have a serious discussion with myself. It's usually when I'm experiencing difficulties because life hits me in the face with something. Those dramatic moments when I'm feeling discouraged, and I'm not sure how I'll be able to pick myself up again. That's when I ask myself:
Should I just start being a pessimist?
A very dangerous thought that feels liberating because I feel let down—let down because I had gotten my hopes up. Wouldn't life be easier if I just started putting my hopes so low that nothing could ever shake me? I guess it would, wouldn't it?
Fortunately, I always come back to my senses after I realize what being a pessimist would do to my life and my personality in the long term. Things could turn ugly. In the worst-case scenario, it would make me a rather negative, unenthusiastic, bland, and colorless person. It could take most of the fun out of life. And I wouldn't want that, so I conclude that optimism is still the winning mindset in the long run.
That's not to say I should just suppress any negative emotion I ever have—of course I should feel the feels—but there is just no point in me letting them bring me down completely.
Optimism wins because it means you sincerely believe in good outcomes for you and other people. Even though life sucks sometimes, you know you're worthy of good things happening to you, just as it is for every other person. You also work hard to reach those good outcomes because you believe it's possible, no matter the odds.
What’s more, it's interesting that optimism implies a quality we rarely admit to valuing: naivety. It's often considered something that doesn't belong in the adult world. But the truth is, everybody has naive beliefs all the time—we just try to make others believe we don't, only to seem mature, calm, and composed (in your own mind or others' minds). But you know what: naivety is good. And we need more of it in this world! The world doesn't need any more pessimists.
Most importantly, pessimism isn't a very elegant mindset. Optimism is elegant. Optimism also makes it easier to reach excellence in a craft, because you're more invested in it. Pessimists may only do the bare minimum that neither makes them enjoy the process nor reach an excellent outcome. In short, optimism will get you so much farther in life than pessimism ever could.
Plus, optimists are more likely to notice the extraordinary, inspiring things around them. They know how to pay attention to the little things that give them sparks of joy in day-to-day life. Pessimists, on the other hand, manage to always point out the negative sides to each positive thing in this world—to themselves or to others.
Of course, being an optimist or a pessimist is never an on/off type of thing. A full spectrum from optimism to pessimism exists within you all the time, but what matters is that you can decide which of them dominates your worldview. And the more you identify as an optimistic person, the more you practice seeing the positive, the more naturally it will come.
Also, optimism is contagious. Spending time with positive people and observing positive high-performing individuals across fields will skew your mindset in the right direction more than conscious efforts ever could.
So here are my questions to you:
What's one thing you'd pursue differently if you fully believed you were worthy of a good outcome?
What does your inner pessimist tell you most often, and is it actually true?
Who in your life makes you more optimistic just by being around them?
Have an elegant weekend!
Bisous,
Elle
P.S. This issue comes to you on a Saturday, I know. Life has been full lately: new apartment, new job, new rhythm. Next Friday we’ll be back to normal!
Data
30/05/2026
