Cuba: Pessimism Does not Improve "Things"

How is it going? "Just haning in there." "As one can, not as one wants." "Things look bad ." "I’d better not talk about it." "The thing is fine, the situation is what’s hard." "Everything is just fine ." "There, in the fight." "Moving forward, there’s nothing more."

We Cubans have a thousand answers to the same and repeated question. Some we even understand only among ourselves, but each one entails different states of mind, and I’d dare say, different attitudes towards life, to follow the thread, towards "the thing."

Which of these answers do I usually give? Which one do I prefer to receive? I ask myself. Recently they sent me a beautiful poem on WhatsApp that left me wanting to cry and thinking about how bad, very bad, things are. It was sent by a friend of mine who is usually an optimist to the core, but how can one save oneself from pessimism in the midst of such a bad streak?

My first preventive measure is… to take a break from social networks or shield them, not against the truth, but against those who revel in misfortunes and sadness. Pessimism is an attitude that shows us only the negative side of things and anticipates unfavorable results in various situations. An excess of pessimism can lead us to apathy and lack of motivation. It can become a barrier to our progress.

I’m aware, pessimism can also have its place in our world. It arises for various reasons: objective problems, past experiences, fear of failure... In its favor, they will say that it allows us to be realistic, anticipate the challenges and difficulties we could face and mentally prepare ourselves to face them.

However, I believe that a well-grounded optimism, with feet on the ground and wings, can do that job better. It pushes us to look for solutions and alternatives. It drives us to be more creative and explore different approaches to solving problems, it encourages us to be perseverant and resilient.

Optimism doesn't improve things either, but it puts us in a position to transform it in our favor as much as possible, and to live, which is what we came for, right?

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff