.: Half full or half empty :.

"The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy" - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

One of the more apparent differences between humans is their trait of pessimism or optimism. I personally think there's no sane human being that can absolutely stand right in the center of that fence. You are either optmistic, or you are pessimistic. There is no such thing as a person being a half optimist and a half pessimist.

I would like to think I'm a staunch optmimist. I usually believe that things are going to do well, and that it will all end up rosy and happy. Now my trait gives me several distinct advantages, where one of them is of course my courage to try out new ventures. I have usually dared to fail, I am always ready to take the plunge and work hard at it, knowing deep down inside, it is going to end well, if I put in my best effort.

I am usually found to be rather more acceptable to failures than not. If I failed in a particular undertaking, I would tell myself that there must be something that I missed in my planning, and I would keep trying at the task till I succeed. It is not as much due to preserverance rather than optimism, as in the begining I had told myself that this is going to suceeed in the end.

Next, optimism gives me the drive. I would wake up every morning telling myself that today is going to be a much better one than yesterday. Sure, countless mornings have found me staring at my own face in the bathroom mirror wondering what went wrong yesterday to put me in such a dire strait, but then I told myself that it is going to be okay. And then a smile would form in my face, and the day usually ends up much better.

Optimism also gives me a more polished people skill. I communicate better, I give more constructive ideas and people tend to be happier to talk to me. In my line of work, people skill is the number one fundamental qualification that is most essential to the path towards success.

However, the downfall is optimism is the gung ho-ness that it brings along. You are sometimes so convinced that your ideas would work out, you passively igonore the obvious stumbling blocks along the way untill it's too late. Rest assured, though, that this is something I pay a lot of attention to, and I contstantly remind myself to take a step back and analyse the situation in a down to earth manner.

At the age of 25, I am already way ahead of most of my peers in terms of intellectual and career capabilities. I think I owe it to four things: my upbringing, all my good friends beside me, my wonderful other half, and optimism.

I did not write this blog to brag, nor do I write it to make anyone else feel bad about themselves. Instead, knowing that only people close to me would read my blog(s), I would like to instill a little bit more optimism in most of you. No matter how bad it seems, it will all end up alright in the end. Trust me on this.

Good luck, dear friends.

Destiny: It's not the chances we take, but the choices we make that determines our destiny.