Optimism is overrated.

It may sound disgustingly pessimistic to say that; however, I don't consider myself to be pessimistic, I think I merely have a realist outlook on life. I don't go for the glass-half-full or glass-half-empty nonsense.

In my mind, there's just a glass. As long as it's not smashed on the floor, things aren't as bad as they could get.

Here is my world-view that allows me to survive: always expect disappointment. When things turn out badly, as I always expect them to, I am never surprised and even get to have a sense of self-satisfaction out of knowing I was right.

If I expect disappointment, and things turn out well, I am pleasantly surprised and even cheerful, and feel for a fleeting moment as if this stupid world is really not a bad place, after all.

Life can be bad or good. Always expect disappointment.

I quote a line from a season one episode of Bored to Death. The one with the 16-year-old girl who says she is 21, Jim Jarmusch and the lost movie script, and the cut-to-the-chase psychotherapist (incidentally the father of the aforementioned jail bait) quoted below.

"Lives don't change, we simply become more comfortable with our core misery. Which is a form of happiness."

Thanks, doctor.