I am a pessimist. I don't believe I have always been one, but recently, having this kind of an attitude has been horrible. When it comes to school, if I do badly on a test, I automatically say to myself that I am stupid or that I can't do this. I hate that I have that kind of an attitude but for some reason, I cannot make those "feelings" go away. According to Wikipedia, depression and pessimism seem to go hand in hand. They also say that; "Psychologists trace pessimistic attitudes to emotional pain or even biology". I would have to say that I agree with that. When I first became sick with Interstitial Cystitis, nobody knew what to do. None of the Doctors could help me or tell me what was wrong with myself. After seeing a few Doctors, I lost hope and looked at everything negatively. I said nobody is going to be able to help me and I went to every Doctors appointment with that frame of mind.
So how can I get rid of this of this pessimism? I have had a great conversation about this through the Student Seminar postings. Kerri Piepenburg did some more research focused more on helplessness. She provided this website which goes through the reasons why people are pessimists and how to overcome it. She also suggested that I read the book in hopes that it can change my perspective. For example:
According to attribution theory, the explanations that people tend to make to explain success or failure can be analyzed in terms of three sets of characteristics:- First, the cause of the success or failure may be internal or external. That is, we may succeed or fail because of factors that we believe have their origin within us or because of factors that originate in our environment.
- Second, the cause of the success or failure may be either stable or unstable. If the we believe cause is stable, then the outcome is likely to be the same if we perform the same behavior on another occasion. If it is unstable, the outcome is likely to be different on another occasion.
- Third, the cause of the success or failure may be either controllable or uncontrollable. A controllable factor is one which we believe we ourselves can alter if we wish to do so. An uncontrollable factor is one that we do not believe we can easily alter.
- Note that this factor is distinct from the previous two categories. An internal factor can be controllable (we can control our effort by trying harder) or uncontrollable (most people cannot easily change their basic intellectual ability or change from being an introvert to being an extrovert). Likewise, an external factor can be controllable (a person failing a difficult course could succeed by taking an easier course) or uncontrollable (if calculus is difficult because it is abstract, it will still be abstract no matter what we do).
The eight ways are:
1) Find a cause you believe in.
2) Focus on the possibilities, not the impossibilities.
3) Read inspiring stories.
4) Be part of a team.
5) Connect to your cause.
6) Connect to your spiritual power source.
7) Get rid of negative words.
8) Open your mind for unexpected ways.
I love these eight ways to get rid of pessimism. I am going to start following these steps and hopefully it will help me become an optimist.
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I believe that I did a lot better this module when it came to participation and the student seminar. Next module, I will take more time to read the posts as well as comment on the websites that are provided.
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Four New Words I Learned This Module:
1) Fight-or-flight response- A defensive reaction that prepares the organism for conflict or escape by triggering hormonal, cardiovascular, metabolic, and other changes.
2) General adaption syndrome(GAS)- A three-phase biological response to stress.
3) Generalized anxiety disorder- Persistent and often nonspecific worry and anxiety.
4) Rapid eye movement(REM)- Stage of sleep in which dreams occur.
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