Being being pessimistic about people in the sense that you don't expect anything good from them will make all surprises positive and in the long run it will help you to not give up.
You can still be optimistic about things without being optimistic about people as it makes it a lot easier to spot the good people and the good actions, if you are positive about people the law of averages and the lack of expected good will invariably and inevitably drown out your ability to notice the good....
Positivity without anything to warrant it will always turn into delusion and self-deceit, ironically not expecting anything will make the most of anything good that does happen by giving it a much greater impact and it also lets you see things more clearly, lying to oneself is the most common of human psychological tendencies....
Sorta the problem with humans, they can't believe that someone can have this kind of attitude without it being caused by trauma, much like they they can't see someone with a large and healthy ego without thinking it is false/over inflated and compensating for something....
Just because it could only exist in you in one setting doesn't mean it can't exist in someone else without that setting.
Experience gained from observation over time and an ability to connect the dots and see the whole picture, humans as a whole are depressingly predictable, individuals less so, which is why I value anything that makes it easier to spot them standing out from the general malaise that is humanity...
And yes, I do realize that this makes come across as more than just a little misanthropic, but it works better than any other alternative so I'm OK with it...
Unwarranted optimism does.
Being being pessimistic about people in the sense that you don't expect anything good from them will make all surprises positive and in the long run it will help you to not give up.
You can still be optimistic about things without being optimistic about people as it makes it a lot easier to spot the good people and the good actions, if you are positive about people the law of averages and the lack of expected good will invariably and inevitably drown out your ability to notice the good....
Positivity without anything to warrant it will always turn into delusion and self-deceit, ironically not expecting anything will make the most of anything good that does happen by giving it a much greater impact and it also lets you see things more clearly, lying to oneself is the most common of human psychological tendencies....
Sorta the problem with humans, they can't believe that someone can have this kind of attitude without it being caused by trauma, much like they they can't see someone with a large and healthy ego without thinking it is false/over inflated and compensating for something....
Just because it could only exist in you in one setting doesn't mean it can't exist in someone else without that setting.
Some of us are just very old.......
Experience gained from observation over time and an ability to connect the dots and see the whole picture, humans as a whole are depressingly predictable, individuals less so, which is why I value anything that makes it easier to spot them standing out from the general malaise that is humanity...
And yes, I do realize that this makes come across as more than just a little misanthropic, but it works better than any other alternative so I'm OK with it...