Fighting Pessimism Through Freedom, Struggle, and Conscious Intentionality
It’s easy to become pessimistic about the future of our world. In the past, several years a global pandemic, international conflicts, and the perception of a totally dysfunctional US congress have dominated major media storylines. The outlook for how we make democratic progress, civil rights, and economic stability a reality can feel dire. And, of course, climate change and its disastrous nudging hover above all of this (and us). If you care about these things, you have valid reasons to feel pessimistic. Pessimism is a mindset that can have a profound impact on how we perceive the world and navigate through life’s challenges. It is a tendency to expect the worst outcome in any given situation, despite evidence or contrary experiences.
Living with an unrelenting sense of pessimism can drain our energy, hinder our progress, and kill our creativity. So, it is crucial to understand the implications of pessimism, how it affects our well-being, and for me, the first and second years into the pandemic specifically, my pessimistic outlook put me in a cycle of self-doubt, anxiety, and fear I couldn’t name. Despite the fact that I had incredible professional opportunities knocking at my door, it blinded me from seeing them, preventing me from pursuing the goals and dreams I have long held. In the past year, however, I’ve learned that having a constant focus on what is going wrong can also hinder my ability to enjoy the present moment and find happiness in my daily life.
There are a few things I’ve learned through this experience to help fight the pessimism that can so easily creep into the mind.
One powerful way to combat pessimism is through community and service toward community and structural change. At the most basic level, ensuring I am engaging in acts of kindness and compassion consistent with what I’d like to see across our society fills me with a sense of purpose and fulfillment because I know that collectively, our small acts can contribute to big change. By shifting our focus away from ourselves and towards the needs of a just and loving world, we can break free from the cycle of negative thinking and fight for positive change.
Joining a community of others in the freedom struggle can counter social isolation and provide a support network and a sense of belonging. Participating in the freedom struggle, inclusively viewed, can not only provide a sense of social belonging but also historical belonging, connecting your work with that of those who refined democratic societies, pushed imaginations forward in the name of human and civil rights, and preserved cultural histories and practices in the face of extermination, can be quite humbling and transformational to say the least. I’ve rediscovered this basic truth in the last couple of years: surrounding ourselves with like-minded individuals who share our goals and aspirations can help us stay motivated and inspired.
We can’t let pessimism get the best of us.
The first step is to recognize that our thoughts and beliefs are not absolute truths but interpretations of reality, and our reality is heavily influenced by the media we consume.
Next, we must consider what may be an ugly truth: We humans have a negativity bias. This essentially means that we are drawn more to negative news than positive or neutral news; Negative news has been found to have a stronger biological effect on our minds and bodies and is thus easier to pay attention to. Therefore, we are naturally inclined to doom scroll; and since news is largely a profit-seeking business and bad news has proven to sell quite well (in the form of ads, subscriptions, sponsorships, etc), there’s plenty of doom-scrolling content to consume.
So one of the largest shifts in my daily habits that I’ve made is in my “media diet.” Part of this is just consuming less media. Not scrolling my phone or turning on my tv as soon as I wake up. Most importantly, I no longer start the day by reading and listening to the news. I try to make sure the first media I consume is something that inspires me and/or makes me laugh. This could be sports highlights, a spiritual passage, an interesting podcast interview, or a rerun of one of my favorite sitcoms.
I still consume the news. But now, I usually take a 15-30 minute break in the afternoon a few days of the week to catch up on any relevant news I deem necessary to consume for my personal or professional development, and that’s about it.
More importantly, I seek out good news to remember that positive change is taking place across the nation and the world on a daily basis. Rights are being restored, protections for historically oppressed peoples and our natural resources are being implemented, systemic barriers are being broken down as you read this, and it’s being done by poor people, by transgender women, by youth, by people who’ve had their rights stripped from them but not their hope nor their dignity.
That sounds like the future, not the end!
Additionally, I’ve found it helpful to remind myself to consider historical and population contexts before accepting my perceptions as hard reality. For example, it’s easy to forget that the US population has been in constant growth, and the total population has nearly doubled since 1970! This may mean yes, more negative incidents, but the rate at which those incidents occur may be in decline (as is the case in overall crime) or certainly not at their peak (as is the case with gun violence).
Of course, many issues are impacting the lives of millions that need urgent attention and action. I don’t remind myself of these aspects in an effort to undermine that fact. However, I’ve found this an important practice when I begin to convince myself the world has never seen as many problems as it does today by taking a more objective viewpoint which allows me to have a more open mind.
Using these strategies to recharge a positive outlook despite all the harm and oppression in the world, we can open ourselves up to new possibilities, improve our relationships, and strengthen our work toward change.
