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Have you heard the joke about how, while the optimist and the pessimist were arguing about whether the glass is half full or half empty, the opportunist grabbed it and drank its contents? I imagine that would have put an abrupt end to the argument. Not for me though, because my very personal take is that the glass is ALWAYS full, just containing different proportions of liquid and gas. Even when there is no liquid in the glass, there is always 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen and 1% consisting of Argon and carbon dioxide, mostly.
It starts to get interesting when there is liquid in the glass, though. I personally have a penchant for a nice Saint-Émilion Merlot. Sometimes the heady optimist in me has too many full glasses of this. Luckily, experience has taught me that the best way to atone for such excesses is to chase the wine with several full glasses of h2o. I am optimistic that the same thing would help if there had been palm wine or ogogoro in my full glass, instead of wine. In any case, as far as the great debate is concerned, for pessimists, optimists and opportunists alike, any ingestible liquid will do, and last last, ultimately one can err on the side of the scientific fact that a full glass of water emptied down the human throat every sixty minutes is extremely good for several organs, including but not limited to the skin, brain, liver and kidneys. Moreover, if the glass happens to be full of something other than a liquid…just breathe…and stay alive…it’s called fresh air. The pessimists among you just won’t win this one, sorry.
I have always considered myself an optimistic realist, or a realistic optimist. You can call me the opportunist if you like, because no matter what, I will always seek out an opportunity to profit from the situation. The least common denominator of profitable outcomes for any situation is gratitude-no-matter-what. Think: I am still alive, and in possession of my faculties, though they may be involved in a civil war between optimism and pessimism. Furthermore, I have a glass over which to debate (that’s both literally and metaphorically, btw), whether said glass actually belongs to me or not. What’s more, that glass is undeniably technically always full. This means we already have four things to be grateful for, even in the worst case scenario. Surely things can only get better.
So please pardon my opportunistic optimism for a moment, and join me in raising another full glass of liquid to the triumph of opportunism as a medium of conflict resolution. I’m not fussy about the liquid with which you fill your glass for this toast, btw.
As it happens, several very clever scientists over the years have fuelled the discord between optimists and pessimists, by conducting studies to highlight the differences between the two. Obviously they had heard the joke, and could always rely on opportunists to step in if things got messy. Let me state emphatically that I am a firm believer that everyone has a human right to be a pessimist, and that it could be considered politically incorrect to cause pessimists to have feelings of otherness or inferiority. Really, one would have expected better from Harvard scientists and the like. Here are some of their malicious incitements:
There is a correlation between being optimistic and enjoying better health and a longer life, even though apparently this is not strictly a cause and effect situation. This was reported by Dr. Alan Rozanski, a New York cardiologist who became one of the field’s primary researchers due to his early work at a cardiac rehabilitation program. “It’s never too early and it’s never too late to foster optimism.” he tells us.
Optimism is not just about personality, it has a lot to do with behaviour too. Although it is 25-30% heritable, changing one’s environment and socio-economic factors can adversely or favourably affect levels of optimism. In any case, optimism is more goal-oriented, and optimists tend to be problem-solvers. Evidence shows that they take better care of themselves. They are more likely to eat healthily, exercise and avoid bad habits such as smoking.
“There’s also a biological effect. Pessimists bathe their bodies in damaging stress hormones like cortisol and norepinephrine all day long. Pessimism increases inflammation in the body and fosters metabolic abnormalities like diabetes. Pessimism is also on the way to depression, which the American Heart Association considers a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.”
“Other research suggests that more optimistic people may be able to regulate emotions and behaviour as well as bounce back from stressors and difficulties more effectively,” said Harvard professor, Laura Kubzansky.
CBT or cognitive behavioural therapy could be useful in consciously countering negative thoughts, and beyond that, even developing coping strategies. Pessimists feel they have less control than do optimists. This sets them up to believe less in the possibility of favourable outcomes, and keeps them in a holding pattern of anxiety. Anxiety is a primal response to danger in one’s environment, that was more appropriate when humans were hunter-gatherers. It elicits the fight or flight response, which requires toxically high levels of stress hormones for today’s human.
Most of our thoughts are just bad habits, and not conscious. There is much selfempowerment to be derived from halting and banishing a negative thought, and re-writing the script, simply by considering alternative approaches to the source of one’s anxiety. This realisation or understanding is the first reduction in the toxic effects of pessimism. Next, thinking about solutions to approach the situation takes down the levels of harmful biochemistry another notch.
I would like to reiterate unequivocally that every human has the right to be negative and pessimistic if they so choose. Power to the people. My advice is for staunch pessimists to stay ahead of the curve through a little industrial espionage on a site like centreforoptimism.com
On the other hand, optimism does come with its own pitfalls. The studies tell us that optimists often make bad decisions when it come to personal finance. Are optimists gamblers? Or can they be so blinded by their radiant optimism that they fail to see and mitigate dangers on the horizon? Is that even really optimism…or is it not in fact delusion?
Apparently, there are more than one form of optimism: dispositional, comparative, situational, strategic, realistic and of course, unrealistic. Unrealistic optimism can be composed of a number of elements, including optimism bias, planning fallacy, wishful thinking and shared illusion. They’re definitely worth a Google search if you’re the knowledge-seeking type.
Just over a decade ago, Bim Adewunmi had an article in the UK Guardian in which she referenced a Gallup poll on Nigerians and optimism. One of Bim’s comments read: “Nigerians are still the most optimistic people in the world. How? For the second year in a row, Nigeria has been found to be the most optimistic country. Maybe it’s time we started to get angry.” It is almost surreal in today’s context, because one subject she touched on was the proposed removal of the fuel subsidy. Boko Haram also got a mention. My heart sank to read it in 2022. Basically, nothing has really changed in a decade, and her concluding words echo eerily in my mind “On the one hand, it’s nice to write pieces on the legendary optimism of the Nigerian. But on the other hand, is it a sustainable optimism?”
An International Republican Institute poll infographic titled “Despite regional divisions and worsening economy; Nigerians optimistic about democracy” tells us that “57% believe their own personal economic situation has gotten worse” and at the same time “54% believe Nigeria is moving in the right direction”
In March 2021, interview.ng headlined a piece on the Vice President “Osinbajo Says He’s Optimistic Nigeria Will Surmount Problems”
Then 6 months later, just a week after our Independence Day, Obasanjo was quoted in the Punch Newspaper as saying “I’m optimistic about Nigeria’s future”.
Barely 3 weeks after that it was the Daily Trust quoting the VP’s closing remarks at the 27th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja (NES #27) thus: “I’m Optimistic About The Country’s Future, Potentials Of Young Nigerians”
In the light of everyday realities all over the country, I’m feeling just a little bit jaded by all this optimism. I have a genuine question to ask you all…honestly, this is not a trick question…I really would like to know the facts….Are you optimistic about the future of Nigeria?
Me, I’m struggling. For now, I remain a realistic optimist. I’m staying with tried and tested methods and coping mechanisms, to deal with the feelings that sometimes try to pervade my thoughts:
I regularly make myself rearrange the letters in the word ‘DEPRESSION’ to emphatically state that despite it all, ‘I PRESSED ON’.