Hopeless optimist

It’s hard to say at times like this.

But I maintain it’s worth being a “hopeless optimist”.

“Hopeless”: You don’t hold out hope that the optimistic point of view will necessarily be correct, or that things will somehow turn out better because you thought that way.

“Optimist”: You try to see the good in the things around you, even if there is also bad, and try to show support towards the good parts in case it helps them overcome the bad.

For example. The current UK government is busy trying to chip away at any good person’s relative use case for freedom of speech. But the hopeless optimistic view is, the current government is doing that, but that’s not to say the next will.

Another example. I supported a whole bunch of artists who sold NFTs around 2020–2021. Not because I thought it was going to be a “big money play”, but because I believe in artists. Some were grifters, others were trying to make art and got labeled as grifters by grifters. The hopeless optimistic view is, supporting artists, if you can, is a good idea anyway.

Know what you believe, know what you value, then try the “hopeless optimist” hat on.

If nothing else, it’s better for your blood pressure.