Hachmi 1

Taric Hachmi

Mr. Huff

College English 11

14 September 2023

Why Be Optimistic?

Have you ever sat in your room, late at night, thinking about an upcoming test, and said

to yourself, “I'm going to fail this test.” Many people try to deny that they are pessimistic in

some aspects but I think everyone is pessimistic to a certain extent. When people have a job

interview, test, project, etc., they almost always think of the worst possible thing that could

happen. The reason we do this is to think of the worst possible outcome and to avoid it. It also

helps us care more and do our best to avoid having that bad outcome. This is why I consider

myself a pessimist.

When I have a big test, I never feel good about it. I always assume that I'm going to fail

or get a low grade. I stress about it all day and assume the worst. For example, I had an AP World

History final that I was being pessimistic about, and ended up getting a good grade. Thinking

that I was going to fail motivated me to study hard the last few days before the test. If I told

myself that I was fine, I don't think I would've studied hard enough. Another example was when I

had a Chemistry test. I told myself I wouldn't stress about it and take the test without a huge

amount of studying. I kept on telling myself that I would do good and that I didn't need to study

more. I ended up failing because of my overconfidence.

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I play sports very often. Some of the sports I play are soccer and basketball. If the team

we were going to play was good, I would always worry the whole day. Even if we had a realistic

chance to beat them. I don't think being nervous or saying we would do badly really helped. On a

team, you want to have a positive outlook on the game so you can be motivated throughout the

whole game you don't give up when one thing goes bad. The reason comebacks happen in sports

is because the team believes they can win and try their hardest to do so. For example, once I was

playing an indoor soccer game and we were down by 6 goals at the half. Everyone was

complaining and arguing and the coach stopped us and said, “Do you guys want to keep arguing

or win this game?” This flipped a switch in us and we played our hardest to come back. We

ended up winning by two by the time the game ended. That is the reason I tried my hardest to

avoid being pessimistic about upcoming games.

Many times I'm pessimistic for no reason. The things I would think about would be very

unreasonable and I would still worry about them. For example, I would be planning to go to the

park, and I would worry that it would rain even though the forecast says it is clear. Or, I would

think that I wouldn't finish an assignment in my time but I had plenty of time. Another example

is in the 8th grade summer. Instead of enjoying my time, I spent most of it worrying and saying

that my freshman year would be terrible. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was but it wasn't the best.

I ended up doing a little worse than I wanted but I still finished the year on a solid note. I feel

like I can not control these things because it's hard not to worry. It is not terrible to think like this

because it helps me focus on the task so I prevent these things from happening.
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There are many situations where being pessimistic is not a good thing to do. It can often

lead to a worse outcome than if you had been optimistic. For example, I had a test in math in my

9th grade year and I didn't study because I was being pessimistic. I told myself that the test was

so hard that even if I studied, I wouldn't do good. This was the wrong mentality because I

could've done better if I had studied. One of the reasons I did this was because I was being lazy,

which led me to think that I would fail no matter if I studied or not. For the next test, I decided to

study and be pessimistic, and did well. This is why being positive is often good.

Being a pessimist isn’t a terrible thing. It can help you prepare for things better by

making you think of the worst solutions. Thinking about these things helps you prevent them.

There should be a balance between pessimism and optimism. If you're too pessimistic, it will

make you hard to deal with and you'll never see the good in things. If you're too optimistic, you

will set unrealistic expectations and will rarely meet them. This can negatively affect your

lifestyle because you will not be prepared for things to be bad. This is why you need to find a

balance and know when to be pessimistic and when to be optimistic. Although many people don't

say it, everyone is pessimistic to a certain extent.