Optimists get all the glory in popular media. Don’t believe me? Just look at the proliferation of titles on optimism from The Optimism Bias to Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life to 10 Habits of Truly Optimistic People to The Power of Positive Thinking. Evidently, optimism is something to be valued while pessimism is a personality trait we should actively try to change. After all, “Nobody likes a pessimist.” Not that such phrases take us pessimists by surprise. Trust us, if it’s negative, we have probably already beat you to thinking it. I’m only sort of joking.

This spotlight on optimism is due in part to the rise of a branch of psychology called positive psychology. Positive psychology was founded in 1998 by Martin Seligman and is a rapidly developing field within psychology. It is becoming common for mental health professionals to incorporate exercises like journaling gratitude, assessing clients’ personality strengths, and helping clients find engaging activities into more traditional treatment plans. These tools and others rooted in positive psychology are incredibly helpful tools for increasing happiness and positivity. I have a positive psychology class this semester, and something dawned on me as my professor explained that pessimism is linked to failure, lack of motivation, poor health, and less satisfying relationships: pessimism is key to my success.

I am not afraid to admit that I am undoubtedly a pessimist. However, I am quite the successful and motivated pessimist. In fact, my success is not in spite of my pessimism. My pessimism fuels my success. While I am excited about positive psychology’s contributions to the mental health fields, I suddenly felt a bit overlooked by positive psychology. It seemed no one had made an allowance for people like me. Optimists are successful, pessimists are not successful… so what was I? Some sort of anomaly? Or was I some sort of secret optimist? With some digging, I found that positive psychology does indeed make room for successful pessimists, but it calls us something that makes us sound even more negative: defensive pessimists.

“Great. Now I’m not just a pessimist, but I’m defensive too!” I thought. However, it turns out defensive pessimism is actually a positive thing. It’s a valuable coping mechanism for people who are experiencing anxiety, and it can actually lead to better outcomes than optimism in certain situations. For example, imagine you are an optimist who has to complete three quizzes and one four page paper over the weekend. If you are invited to a party on that busy weekend, you might think, “I’m sure I can finish my work afterward! Anything is possible!” Only to find it was unrealistic to expect yourself to go to a party and still have time to finish all of your work. A defensive pessimist, on the other hand, will have considered all the negative outcomes as possibilities and made plans to avoid those negative outcomes. When I have assignments coming due, I work on them for a set period each day and finish them before the due date. That way, if something unexpected comes up (I am ill and need to rest, I have a family emergency, or I just want to go spend some time at a fun activity, etc.) I will still be able to finish my assignments on time.

My non-expert opinion is this: whether you veer more toward optimism or pessimism, figure out how to make your outlook work for you. I’ve been making my pessimism work for me for years. Optimism does not come easily to me, and it often feels unnatural. I feel a much greater sense of peace when I embrace my defensive pessimism and prepare for the worst. Let’s just be kind to ourselves and make sure we still do fun things even when we don’t have time to prepare for every outcome. We might surprise ourselves and do well without the advanced preparation. After �all, no matter the outcome, it can’t be worse than what we’re imagining.