Optimism vs. Pessimism vs. Happyism(?)

Optimism and pessimism (even realism) assume a passive acceptance of what happens in the world. Fuck that.

There is a common belief that to be happy one must be a natural born optimist. It certainly helps (I suppose), but I’ve seen pessimists be happy, if even fleetingly. Thus, I don’t think that the common belief is necessarily true. Of course, I also don’t think optimism or pessimism explain a worldview that is accurate (while we’re at it, I’m not a big fan of realists either).

• Optimists believe life has a net positive outcome (almost puppy dog-like}.

• Pessimists believe life has a net negative outcome (a little dour, don’t you think?)

• Realists believe there is an outcome (wishy-washy!)

There are two problems with these concepts: 

ACCOUNTING

Optimism versus pessimism would have you believe there is a point system involved. That, at the end of this life, there will either be more positive events than negative events, or vice-versa and then that there is some sort of accounting to it. It implies we're either winning or losing and that’s all there is.

ACCEPTANCE

Optimism and pessimism (even realism) don’t take into consideration all the effort we do in our lives to affect an outcome. It’s like we don’t have a say in the matter. Shit happens and we must simply accept it will end up either positively or negatively (or it will just be - fucking realists). 

This is what we’re left to buy into:

Life is chaotic + it'll be fine = optimism

Life is chaotic + it's going to shit = pessimism

Life is chaotic = realism

Yes, in a completely random world, with an infinite amount of individual experiences, an equal amount of lives are going to net out both positively and negatively if (and only if) there are no other externalities. When you add individual effort into the equation it shifts the bell curve.

Once you begin to see the world as completely random, AND that you have an impact, AND that your reactions are a choice, you start to see things differently. Life doesn’t happen to you, you happen to it. Not that you have control so much as knowing that your actions and attitude make a difference in this world. There is a subtlety to it that once uncovered is not very subtle at all. 

HAPPYISM

Optimism and pessimism (even realism) assume a passive acceptance of what happens in the world. Fuck that. There is nothing passive about anything we do. We are all out there striving for what we value. We have much more impact on our own lives than these philosophies give us credit for.

At this point you may get the impression that I'm not a fan of concepts that discount individual effort¹, and you'd be right. Optimism and pessimism can take a flying leap (same with you, realism).

Happiness is dependent on how we react to chaos. Sure happiness can materialize out of nothing if we’re lazy about it, but we’re not that inactive. Our actions and attitudes (impacts and choices) can, will, and do affect happiness in the world.

May I suggest a new way to view the world: Happyism. Happyism is the belief that an individual's actions and attitudes can affect a positive outcome in any given situation.

Life is chaotic + you have an impact + you have a choice = happyism

Shit happens. So what? Fuck that shit up.

1. See There Is No Such Thing As Luck, Fate, Or Destiny.