"Mindful Optimism" vs. "Defensive Pessimism"

Many people adopt an inclination towards "defensive pessimism:" prepare for the worse, hope for the best. But let’s consider how this strategy might be unhelpful - our thoughts shape our perceptions of events. 

Defensive pessimism keeps us on the lookout for the negative. Seek and ye shall find. Being inundated with negative thoughts keeps us stressed, which is not good for our health. Hoping for the best may sound fine, but on closer inspection it has a pessimistic outlook built into it. Hoping acknowledges defeat as a real possibility, and expecting defeat too often may actually help to create defeat.

Mindful optimism is not burying one’s head in the sand with a certainty that all will be fine, but rather a perspective that helps us live in the moment without stress. Uncertainty is not newly upon us. Everything has always been uncertain. All is and was always changing, but we may have felt differently before because we were previously oblivious to the inherent uncertainty of life. We can worry or relax, and things can turn out good or bad. If we worry and everything turns out fine, we’ve stressed ourselves unnecessarily. If we worry and things turn out to be bad, we’re no more prepared for it than if we didn’t worry. If we relax and things turn out bad, we’ll be stronger to deal with it, and if it all turns out to be fine, we can continue behaving adaptively.

So, what should we do if we want to adopt a life strategy of mindful optimism? Make a plan, such as frequent hand washing (which is always good) and engage in social distancing, but then go back to living fully, moment by moment, with the implicit expectation that all will be fine.

Credit to Ellen Langer, Ph.D.