I’d call myself a hoptimist…I hop between optimism and pessimism. By nature, I lean toward the sunny side and have never taken out an insurance policy on anything. But a long and eventful life has shown me that sometimes the glass really is half empty… though fortunately, you can always fill it up again.
I’ve spent much of my life putting out fires, mostly metaphorical but sometimes literal. My mother once managed to set herself alight while fitting a gas canister onto a camping stove in front of an open fire. The optimist in me is certain I’ll always manage to douse the flames, while the pessimist quietly notes that everything will be burnt to a cinder.
My father was the greatest optimist I’ve ever known. He lived according to the Micawber Principle. ‘Something will always turn up’ he used to say, breezing through life, leaving a trail of devastation in his wake.
I tend to believe that life is a mirror: what you project is reflected back at you. Thus, the optimist in me always hopes for the best, while the pessimist stores huge containers of food under the stairs and lights candles to St Jude, the patron saint of lost causes.
My mother taught me very little, which was everything she knew, but one useful piece of advice she did impart was never let the sun go down on an argument. Not that she practised what she preached. She and my father engaged in a perpetual war over which of them had driven the other into a life of drunkenness and profligacy.
I, on the other hand, loathe arguments and rather than endure a sleepless night, I will always apologise before bedtime, invariably for something I didn’t do.
I am a lifelong teetotler, so have no hangover cure to offer, though my parents always swore by ‘a hair of the dog.’ However, I will leave you with this sound piece of advice that’s never failed me…
Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won’t expect it back.
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Posted in response to galenkp's weekend experience
prompt asking " Optimistic or pessimistic? Which are you and why? / What's your remedy for a hangover?
The images are mine
And for those of you who read the footnotes, if you're first to guess correctly how the title of my post connects with the content, I will send you 10 SBI shares.
Something eventually did turn up for Mr Micawber. Did anything ever turn up for your father? I already know how willing he was.
It's always a pleasure to read your posts.
Second that!
Oh my goodness! You too? My cup runneth over.
Strangely enough, something always did turn up. He always landed on his feet evrn though it was always someone else who funded the parachute.
Thanks for the compliment. I just never get tired of them:)
Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won’t expect it back. Sounds like you are in a good space / trying to stay in the middle of things. Deep questions attract deeper answers with no resolutions. Savor happiness when you find it, you will never be sure to find it again. The pessimist is coming out in me.
That's me. Right in the middle of things...clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right:)
... and I learned another word, profligacy, though I'm not sure how to pronounce that. Yet. I'll find out.
It's an interesting question, and I guess I'm an optimist somehow, though I do expect a lot of bad stuff to happen - but I see it as a challenge, as something to train me and learn from.
"Only lend money if you neither need nor expect it back." - that's what of the Expats here told me once, and it's very wise counseling. I consider the money I lend to others as a donation, though they always swear that they will pay me back. I write it down, of course, and sometimes I go over that list. The longest is a 500$ debt that traces back to January 2020 😅 But they will pay me back! Really! For sure! As soon as they sell the bikes. Or the house. The farm. And then, I just left it there. Not worth the time.
I wouldn't worry too much about new words. You already have a better vocabulary than a lot of native English speakers:) That said, I think you'll find that if you 'expect a lot of bad stuff to happen' you're a pessimist!
There's always a new word to learn! Some made their way into my favorite vocabulary, like "flabbergasted" or "jocund". I think I know most words in German, but not dialects. It's just interesting to me...
Yeah, I expect a lot of bad stuff to happen, but that doesn't really impact my behavior. I still maintain the hope that I have some influence over it, that my actions trickle up and down and such. Bad stuff happens eventually, always, but based on my experiences so far, it's a lot less bad. There are a few things that could happen that could be worse than what I already experienced, but not as many. So, whatever comes, the likelihood of it being a challenge and not a character crushing event is pretty high. Which in my eyes makes me an optimist :-D
I'm a lover of words myself and if I come across a new one I always note it.
I think you might be a hoptimist, someone who anticipates disaster but stays hopeful it’ll build character. Some people let hardship reveal their weakness, while others use it to reveal their strength.
I'm a fan if Hop-derivatives, so it's easy to identify with that. Though your definition is also very solid. I'll add that word into my vocabulary :-)
This old chestnut. Haven't we all? (Ok, I haven't)
Thanks for your continued support of this concept, your posts always bring it a certain little something that I look forward to.
As long as that 'certain little something' is genius, I think we're both agreed!
My poor sainted mother refused to go to A&E until 3 days later. She had second degree burns on her legs and must have been in excruciating pain. The doctor there didn't believe her story and called the police, who called social service, believing she was being abused.
Genius indeed.
Your mum must have been a tough nut. ✅
profligacy... Oh wow, I do bloody love you sometimes 😂
'Something will turn up' is what I always say, (M'lady does the panicking and I do the talking down), I learned it from my utterly lovely Nana (grandmother) as a kid. I have never yet discovered the purpose of worrying. I do like that mirror principle, I guess I have used it intentionally throughout life, occasionally it smacks ya in the mouth. but that's life and as ya say, there's always St Jude, right?
I am 'hoptimistic' that you will have a bloody stunning August or at the very least, an un-terrible one! 🌞
Steven, my sweet, what do you mean by sometimes?
And you know, worrying works! 90% of the things I worry about never happen.
As I wrote it, I almost rewrote, but, envisioned the response and giggled, I did not mean sometimes, but ya knew that already 😁
Jeez! How did I miss the correlation and practical implications? 🧐
Hahah, keep back-pedalling. You almost have me convinced.
No ability to back-pedal here... My punctured bicycle is on a hillside, desolate, although the silver lining is that the time not back-pedalling has allowed me to pamper life's complexity...
bloody hell, that was naff and cheesy...😬Oh you charming man, you!:)
Ah the upper case on Dickens calls for it, Charles Dickens and Micawber is the other hint, in David Copperfield, he is the optimist character like your father
lol, you gotta be kiddin me
that's a good advice, not easy to put in practice tough
Well m'dear I cannot say I'm not impressed, especially that you read to the end of the post.
10 HBI for you!
Ah I always do read everything
Thank you!
They say here that when you lend money you better hug the one that borrowed.
But that one to borrow from a pessimist is a good one.
Optimistic or pessimistic thoughts come and go and if I had to call me one of those it rather be the second. I can't control it I guess, I've been somehow a fire putter out most of the times but pessimism manages to shade me back again in the low defense moments.
I know I might sound reiterative but once again loved your post and thank hive cause I got the chance to read you a bit.
Total chaos I guess...😁
Love it!
And don't worry. Not everyone can be as perfect as I am:)
Hahahaha. That use to happen...
Guess you are one in all existence creation.:)
Being a pessimist by nature, my default mode is preparing for the worst case scenario. I wouldn't recommend that as this is a recipe for a sleepless night.
On the other hand, I do agree with your mother on not letting the sun go down on an argument. My mother was like that too. We'd argue over something, but we wouldn't go to bed without a hug and a kiss.
A hug and a kiss? Oh lord! My entire family was touch averse. I don't recall ever being kissed or hugged by either parent and I certainly wouldn't initiate physical contact.
Oh, I take after the hug-adverse side of the family. I've learned to be different around my children, but with my siblings God forbid that we touch.
#hive #posh
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Dickens did make it to Dublin on a book tour in 1858, but I doubt he visited the urine-soaked alleyway where I found that graffiti:)