Are You an Optimist or a Pessimist about Your Future?

Essay: «Are you an optimist or a pessimist about your future» Optimists believe in surpassingly fair and god-blessed future, meantime pessimists prophesy that we should expect nothing but trouble in the future. Both opinions go from one extreme to another. It is just conceivable the truth lies somewhere in the middle. At least once every human was plainly perplexed by the ultimate questions of existence, the meaning of life and future. While the first two subjects may be light-heartedly brushed aside, the last one excites people’s minds beyond measure. Though we are all plagued with xenophobic tendencies, all-absorbing fear of the unknown and distressful uncertainty stirs up our interest in the forthcoming. I am very optimistic and I am very pessimistic about the future. I have spent years trying to decide which of these feelings is the right one, but I have come to the conclusion that there are certain questions that naturally evoke an ambivalent response, and that rather than trying to reject one in favour of the other, I need to accept both. On the one hand time and again life brought me to my knees, disappointed with people, forced to reflect on inanity of my being and give up without even trying. At intervals I can see nothing but a bleak future of mine. And on the other hand I appreciate life and fate for being so generous and gracious. I am blessed to have my family and a roof over my head. I have no right to complain. Somehow I have to hold both those feelings in my mind, as to focus only on the positive seems like naïve denial, and to focus only on the negative is just a recipe for unhappiness and renders me less able to be of any use in the world. I do not want to foresee the future and I have no control over the moment following. I am concerned in taking care of the presence, filled with good and bad luck. And in the moments of falling I will rise once again to be able to face my future fearlessly.