How Much Pessimism Do You Need? (Patreon)

Pessimism is good for you in the same way that fear is. You only need enough to keep you alive, to keep you from literally (not figuratively -- literally) jumping off buildings without a coherent plan, to keep you from taking unnecessary bio-existential risks, to keep you safe from excessively courting clear and present danger (not vague and imagined danger). 

So, for example, I am pessimistic about trains' inability to clip me, so I stand far behind the yellow line. There's no honour in being close to it, no glory in being a transportation statistic, just sadness.

But any more (than enough pessimism) will harm you and prevent you even trying, which is easily the worst possible outcome (you'll see why soon). Pessimism rapidly becomes toxic and self-fulfilling.

Pessimism is to life as heat is to cooking. You need just enough to git er dun, but any more and you burn your food and your home. Nah, it's not even that. It's like salt. You need a pinch, but any more and it ruins everything.

How much pessimism do you need? Way less than you think; I won't say you don't need any. You need some salt; hyponatremia is real; ask any marathon runner, living or dead. But remember this. Pessimism can only prevent one type of tragedy (death by willful stupidity), but it causes all the others, including (but not limited to) social death, death by neglect, death by lack of will and effort. If you want to make a grown man cry, make him recite a list of things he wished he'd been optimistic, enterprising and audacious enough to try.