Cynicism Is Easy, Optimism takes work | Hacker News Reader

Cynicism Is Easy, Optimism takes work

kartikay.bearblog.dev

35 pointskiyanwang9 comments

This may well be true. In the startup industry though, I encounter so many "lazy optimists" that I feel fully justified when I identify and criticize deficient businesses or products.

Everything worth doing in life takes effort. It’s extremely easy to watch Netflix or play video games and think about all the things you would do if not for all of these (abstract, uncontrollable) forces that prevent you from succeeding and keep you down.

It doesn’t matter if there actually is a conspiracy from some malevolent group of people keeping you down, or if your parents ruined your life, or kids in school made fun of you, whatever. That’s in the past. Ruminating on that is only useful insofar as if helps you learn from it to benefit your future.

If you want to survive and thrive, it is best to look at the future, try your hardest, be positive, and just take every day one at a time, trying to improve your situation bit by bit.

How do you find the energy level for that mindset, with so much despair and apathy surrounding you.

Unless you are immediately living in an actively traumatic situation - you or your family are gravely ill or you live in a war zone, etc. - all of the despair and apathy is a product of you consuming information that is making you feel this way. I would suggest you immediately stop reading and consuming news, which is overwhelming dire and negative. I would start integrating more with your community, volunteering, talking to people in your vicinity, trying to become more grounded into actual reality.

If you want to see negative, demoralizing shit 24/7 it's right at your fingertips. However this is not your reality, and not the reality of most people on earth.

I don't pretend to have a solution, but in my experience people underestimate how much energy can be gained by properly taking care of their bodies.

Everyone I know who has high energy levels takes their sleep, diet (and weight), and exercise seriously. Anecdotally, when I have these locked down, I'm a different person.

Obviously this is easier said than done, but I suspect that optimism is much easier for people covering these basics.

What helps me (and I am by no means perfect): realize that ultimately it doesn't matter whether there is despair, or if you have any talent for the subject, etc. You only have two options: do, or do not. Thanks, Yoda!

Start moving.

Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I will move the world.

Leave every day better than you found it. No matter how small the change.

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