This Is For Those Who Understand The Underlying Anxiety Of Being A Realist

You always pondered at the existence of optimistic people. It seemed illogical to someone like you. You didn’t understand how they were inherently so happy. You never could see from their lens. Their assertion that the glass was half-full never made any sense.

These types of people were anomaly to your worldview. They didn’t understand like you did. They were naïve in their characterization of the world. They wanted everyone to hold hands but you felt that you knew better. You were wise. You knew that at the root of humanity wasn’t kindness but rational self-interest.

You called yourself a realist because being a pessimist carried too much negative connotation. You told yourself you had a pragmatic worldview. You were the poster child of reason and logic. Practicality became your defining attribute.

How has that served you though? How has that aided your current predicament? How it that your devotion to sensibility has resulted in such paralyzing misery?

The fundamental truth is that too much of anything is never a good thing. Leaning extensively in one direction was never going to serve you well. Balance vanished from your vocabulary along time ago.

Maybe it’s time you reconsidered your original position. Maybe it’s time you revaluated your understanding of optimism. Maybe it’s time for a change.

There’s an underlying anxiety that comes with being a realist. The world is defined by uncertainty and such uncertainty can be overwhelming for people like you who desire control. It’s natural of course. It’s natural to want to seek answers to questions we don’t know. It’s natural to want to hold on to some sense of stability in an ever-changing world. It’s natural to desire reason when life itself is nothing more than an existential crisis.

It’s hard for someone like you to grasp that – to accept that life is not something you can control. You can’t know all of the answers. You can’t solve every problem with unyielding logic.

What you can control though is acceptance. Maybe it’s time you took a page from the optimist playbook and chose the power of belief. Maybe self-interest exists but it can be an incentive for collectively beneficial outcomes. Maybe logic can’t solve everything and maybe that’s okay. Maybe control isn’t the aim but simply living life is.

So take a deep breath. There is no need to be so practical and tense. Take a look at that glass in front of you, that half empty, half-full glass. Take a good look at it because however way you observe it is irrelevant. What matters more is the next step. Take that glass and without further thought, take a sip. Drink every last drop and commit yourself to grasping the moment and extracting every ounce of the beauty that is life.