Presented by BetterHelp.
The American Psychological Association defines pessimism as “the attitude that things will go wrong and that people’s wishes or aims are unlikely to be fulfilled.” While some individuals may feel that this gives them a more “realistic” worldview, this negative thought process can instead increase stress, anxiety, and other mental health conditions. If you find yourself becoming more negative and focusing on the downside of situations, there are ways you can change your outlook to balance the good and bad possibilities.
Why Do I Feel So Negative?
Negativity is essential for growth and development to provide balance. It’s normal to occasionally consider an unfortunate outcome or have anxiety from the unknown. Pessimism becomes a problem when it begins to affect your self-confidence, inner voice, and motivation. You may experience increased negativity for a number of reasons, such as constantly absorbing negative news, consistently engaging in draining debates, or spending too much time on social media.
If you feel that you’re unable to target the source of your negativity or frequently find yourself with a negative mindset, you may have a mental health condition, like anxiety or depression, worsening these thoughts. Reaching out to an experienced mental health care professional can help you work through these conditions and reduce a pessimistic worldview. Read more about pessimism, and it’s effects, by checking out some of BetterHelp’s articles available here.
Improving Positivity
Improving your positivity starts with your mindset and surroundings. It’s important to reduce your interaction with things that make you uncomfortable or increase your stress and anxiety. While spending less time on your phone and reading the news are easier ways to decrease negative interactions, you can also change small aspects of your lifestyle to improve positivity. Clean up the clutter in your work and living space, spend less time around problematic or argumentative people, and increase the time spent on activities that help relax and motivate you.
It’s also important to remember that talking through your negative emotions can help you to improve your outlook on situations. Develop a support system of friends, family members, and other trusted individuals that you feel comfortable talking to; this includes having the ability to talk out your emotions without feeling judged and having a comfortable environment where you can vent or find solutions depending on your needs. Having an outlet to talk through frustrations and challenges allows you to be honest about your reservations and work out a practical solution with others that care about your wellbeing and success.
Maintain Realistic Expectations
It’s important to remember that staying positive and improving a pessimistic worldview isn’t about eradicating negative emotions. Working on improving your positive outlook isn’t as simple as ignoring bad news and finding an optimistic outlook on life. Ignoring negativity in an effort to be positive is called “Toxic positivity”, which can also be problematic for your mental health. Instead of leaning too far into either side of the pessimistic and optimistic spectrum, try to find a healthy balance between the two.
Challenge your negative mindset by finding positive reactions or outcomes for every issue you come up with. At the same time, analyze situations that may seem too good to be true. A realistic outlook is an effort to find solutions for issues that could arise while also being hopeful for productive and beneficial results. In daily life, you can improve your realistic thinking by practicing mindfulness – this is an effort to acknowledge and be thankful for the current moment you’re a part of. While it’s important to take into account the past and plan accordingly for the future, you also need to take the time to appreciate the current task you’re focused on. This can help lessen worry and anxiety while also reducing daydreaming and preemptive celebrations.
Pessimism isn’t always a mindset to avoid – instead, it’s one way to consider a situation that should be balanced with other optimistic and realistic possibilities. If you’re starting to feel that your inner voice is taking on a pessimistic mindset too often, talk to your support system and mental health care professional to target the source of this negativity. This can help you balance realistic worries and grandiose fears. It’s important to remember that negativity can be helpful when weighing your options but it shouldn’t necessarily be the default approach to your lifestyle and practices.
