The Eternal Pessimist or Why My Glass is Always (Half) Empty

South Africa is blessed with amazing wines and it took me almost two years and endless rounds of sampling to discover my favourite ones – Chardonnay and full-bodied red-blends. In the hours I spent figuring this out, I also realised something else:
I am a pessimistic alcoholic - My glass is always (at least half) empty!


While in some areas of my life I am an eternal optimist – I have great belief in the good in people and faith that things will turn out okay – in other areas I can ... well, let’s put this nicely ... come across a bit negative. In fact, the word I probably use most is “but”.

In everyday life this is not a nice attribute to have - after all, it can’t be great to talk to someone who always focuses on the downside of things...

but...

... over the past week I came to realise that it may be a strength in my professional life.

I spent the past ten days in the Western Cape watching whales, exploring nature, tasting wine... oh, yes, and attending a conference slash training course which focused on personal development.

The conference was great, the speakers inspirational and the other attendees incredibly motivated and ambitious people, who genuinely wanted to make a difference. We discussed economic, social and political issues and everybody had an idea on how to make the world a better place.

I loved their spirit and enthusiasm, but I was sceptical. As I tend to be.
However, rather than express this straight away, I decided to sit back and listen. I wanted to hear peoples’ ideas, fall for their visions and get carried away by their energy.

After listening for a while, I would then raise my hand to make a point, which – of course, people don’t change over night – was more often than not a “but”.

Yet it was a different kind of “but”: it still pointed out a weak point that had to be addressed, but at the same time added a new dimension to the idea and sometimes offered a solution on how to overcome problems. It was a positive “but” that tried to push the idea forward rather than shoot it down; it was constructive and – surprisingly – well perceived.

This made me realise something: I learnt that my strength is to make constructive criticism; to keep the bigger picture in mind when people get carried away while at the same time paying enough attention to important details that may be overlooked. It may not be a nice job to point out flaws and raise problems, but it is an important one that adds value to the work and needs to be done.

Most importantly though, it allows me to remain the eternal pessimist that I am.