Optimism and realism are both essential qualities for happy and healthy living. While they appear to be opposing forces, they actually work in tandem as a balance of stressors.
They are both important when thinking about the future and dealing with life’s challenges. It can be challenging to strike a balance between optimism and realism, but having one without the other is not helpful.
Optimism is an essential tool for coping with day-to-day life, but it can also be useful in more extreme or challenging situations. For example, research shows that optimism can be helpful when dealing with chronic stress and depression.
Optimistic people tend to show lower levels of stress and depression, and they also tend to recover more quickly from stressful situations. This suggests that optimism may play a protective role in the long run.
Also, optimism can help us to cope with the challenges of life by helping us to maintain a “glass half full” perspective. Maintaining an optimistic outlook on life can avoid becoming overwhelmed or discouraged by life’s twists and turns.
“Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier,” Colin Powell said.
Realism is a view, attitude or philosophy that focuses on the facts or realities of a situation and not its ideal or exaggerated version.
In other words, being a realist means acknowledging the world as it is and not how we may want it to be. Being a realist also means being able to see things as they are; without distortion from our own beliefs, hopes, fears, or prejudices.
Becoming a realist doesn’t mean you don’t have dreams; it just means you can distinguish between what is and what could be.
Realists try to discount their own subjective biases and look at things as they really are — objectively. A realistic thinker understands his capabilities and limitations, so he knows where he stands at all times.
“What I’ve found in my research is that realism and self-honesty are the antidotes to ego, hubris, and delusion,” says Ryan Holiday.
A realist sees things as they are and understands that not everything will go their way all the time. We cannot change the world. But we can change ourselves and work on becoming better people.
Realism originated in 18th-century European societies that experienced rapid change and new ideas about how the world works. As a result, there was widespread interest in literature, philosophy and art that focused on common truths rather than fantastical scenarios.
Realism has continued to be an influential style today thanks to its emphasis on practical truth and attention to detail rather than flights of fancy. To become a realist, you must accept reality as it is without adding or subtracting anything.
“We need realism to deal with reality,” argues Slick Rick.
Being a realist is not about always seeing things for what they are but being aware of the challenges you will face along the way.
It also means keeping your feet on the ground and avoiding getting carried away with unrealistic fantasies. A realist acknowledges that bad things can happen to good people and that difficult situations cannot be resolved with straightforward solutions.
The best of both thoughts
“Optimism means better than reality; pessimism means worse than reality. I’m a realist.” — Margaret Atwood
Being overly optimistic can result in false expectations and lead to negative outcomes while being overly pessimistic can lead to missed opportunities. However, you can become an optimistic realist by combining the positive qualities of optimism with the objective lens of realism.
This involves believing that the future is bright while acknowledging the challenges and risks of reaching your goals. Both optimism and realism are subjective fields of thought, but each has its own set of rules or principles that you can follow to keep balance in your thinking.
“Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable,” Voltaire once said. Being an optimistic realist means giving yourself permission to look at your current situation with a positive perspective rather than dwelling on all of the bad things that may be happening around you.
If you are always thinking about all the bad things that are happening, you will never be able to enjoy the good things in your life. By being an optimistic realist, you can learn to appreciate all the good things in your life and make the best of them.
Optimism and realism are both important when it comes to dealing with life. They are two different attitudes towards the world.
Both of them have their pros and cons. While being optimistic gives you the courage to believe in a brighter future, being a realist helps you face the harsh reality and deal with it maturely.
However, some people are either too optimistic or realistic or neither of them. Being an optimist or a realist is something we all tend to feel differently at some point.
Optimism and realism are both essential to a happy and successful life. Having an optimistic outlook means you tend to see the world as a positive place and that good things are likely to happen to you.
On the other hand, having a realistic outlook means you don’t ignore problems or pretend they don’t exist. Instead, you acknowledge potential difficulties and plan accordingly.
In life, things don’t always go as planned. Unforeseen challenges and roadblocks can throw even the best-laid plans into disarray.
When things aren’t going your way, it can be tempting to fall into a state of panic or give up entirely. But with the right mindset, you can focus on changing things you can control and turn even your most troublesome situations into opportunities for growth.
“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own . . .” says Epictetus.
Optimism and realism are both valuable tools in almost any situation. While optimism helps you see the silver lining in every cloud, realism enables you to keep things in perspective so that you don’t get carried away with yourself. Balancing these two outlooks will help you stay stable no matter what curveballs life throws your way.
Being balanced means neither ignoring reality nor allowing our dreams to take precedence over facts. It’s about finding a middle ground that encompasses optimism and pessimism, so you can find solutions instead of dwelling on problems.
This article originally appeared in Medium.
