What Characterizes A Pessimistic Personality?

Do you wonder if it is necessarily negative to have a pessimistic personality? Some authors like Jean Cocteau say that “my pessimism is nothing but a variety of optimism.” Is it normal? Or maybe there are several ways to be pessimistic?

Pessimism is reputed to be one of the worst filters that we can incorporate into the perception of reality, both internal and external. More than one believes that it is a way of thinking where everything is bad, dark and sad.

However, this is a cliché that we must combat. This personality should not be associated with sadness in a compulsory way. Although there are certain common characteristics in pessimists, not all are sad. Let’s find out why.

What a pessimistic personality is like

We can define a pessimistic personality as a form of behavior and thought characterized by the fact of judging everything in the worst way. That is, what happens or may happen will always be interpreted from an approach that does not predict a good outcome.

But now we must think if this is really related to sadness. That is, does this way of seeing the world really imply that the individual is depressed or suffers from emotional pain of a certain magnitude?

The truth is, no. That is, there are pessimistic people who really have no hope that a specific situation or all of them can improve. In this case, symptoms such as depression or learned helplessness may appear. They don’t fight and they don’t make an effort because everything is going to be positive.

However, there is another type of pessimistic personality that does hold out hope. Although your experience leads you to think negative or to put yourself in the worst case as a form of defense, it does not mean that you really believe that everything will always go wrong.

Characteristics of a pessimistic personality

Be that as it may, a person with a pessimistic personality, be it more or less sad, usually always presents a series of common characteristics that defines him well. Do you think if we see the best known?

• In search of the truth : a pessimist comes face to face with the truth, without restrictions or hot cloths. They prefer an unpleasant reality to being patronized or sugarcoating a situation that is really not pleasant.
• Your attention will always go to the negative – individuals with this personality type emphasize the bad. For this profile, it is assumed that what is right works as it should, so it does not attract their attention. But when faced with any problem or something that is not right, they do not normalize it, but rather detect it and report it.

• Your expectations are always low : as we said, a pessimistic personality can be a form of defense. So these people create their own shield that defends them from frustration. With this protective armor, they obviously do not have great hopes for the future. Their expectations are very low and they know that to improve them they need to make sacrifices and work hard.
• They are very resistant : faced with complex processes, such as a duel or losing a job, they show enormous resistance. They live bad times as a logical part of life. They are aware that the bad is going to happen whatever they do, so they accept it, cushion the effect and show quite high emotional stability.
• It is not a pathology : many believe that pessimism is a pathology or part of it, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Sometimes it is a simple pattern. Also for many profiles it is part of a way of being realistic. Now, it may be part of a psychological disorder such as depression, which can be found as a symptom.

• Some people hide pessimism : it is not strange, since it does not look good socially, that many hide it. In a world where self-improvement and the path to success seem to be what prevails, many individuals hide their true way of being, more realistic and pessimistic. However, it is against their nature and can cause stress.

You already know that if you are branded as a person with a pessimistic personality, you do not have to take it as something negative. In fact, it is not synonymous with sadness and could even be an example of emotional stability and realistic thinking. There are those who think that it could even be a tool to create a more positive future, although that is another story …

Is there a middle ground?

In the same way that there are pessimistic people, there are overly optimistic people who suffer when things don’t go their way. So finding a middle ground could be a great advantage. From Buddhist Psychology we speak of Equanimity. What does it consist of? It’s about not clinging to the positive or adding fuel to the negative. It is not about being a “plant” either. Taken to a practical point of view, it would translate into not expecting the worst result but not the best, simply not forming expectations, or at least not sticking to them.

In this way, whatever happens, it will not affect us so negatively. Nor is it about becoming nihilistic. We can fight for what we want, but aware that it can turn out as we want or in a different way. Accepting that not everything is under our control takes a great weight off our shoulders. If we give our best at work but the result is not as expected, knowing that setbacks can always happen will free us from great discomfort.