Don’t let midterm pessimism follow you into the break

It’s always darkest before dawn — and midterm week is particularly dark. Spring break is usually preceded by a few solid days in the soul-sucking dungeon better known as Leavey Library.

And so, for two weeks, USC is overrun with pessimism.

There’s something comforting about being pessimistic. When you decide that everything is doomed, you fool yourself into thinking that life, though bleak, is predictable. You maintain the illusion of control. That essay on supply chain management? There’s no need to worry if you think you’re going to fail anyway.

Jovanna Tosello | Daily Trojan

What’s more, many people see pessimism as a sign of depth or intelligence. The word brings to mind the archetype of the well-respected professor who dismisses students’ arguments as products of youthful naïveté.

Although people usually speak of blind optimism, it’s easy to forget that blind pessimism isn’t any more rational.

Pessimism should not be confused with cynicism. A cynic is someone who holds high standards and believes that the world will always fail to live up to them. At the core of every cynic is an idealist who hasn’t quite given up.

By contrast, pessimists give up by default. Pessimism has nothing to do with standards: It is simply about seeing reality through a negative lens.

When we fall into the trap of pessimism, we forget that value judgments aren’t reality.

To avoid the tired glass-half-empty analogy, here’s a study abroad story: When I moved to Amsterdam, one of the first skills I had to master was biking in the dense, cobblestoned city center. At first, biking meant battling wind, narrowly avoiding cars and panicking about falling into a canal. Eventually, biking meant enjoying the crisp air, gliding past motorists and marveling at the reflection of the buildings in the water.

Ultimately, the facts were simple. I biked. There were cars. There were canals. The rest was just decoration. It was up to me to decide which perspective I liked better.

Some events, like sickness and natural disaster, are undeniably bad. One could argue that in the face of these factors, pessimism is the only option. But medical research has shown that pessimism can simply reinforce negativity.

In 2008, Harvard Men’s Health Watch reported that pessimists who underwent coronary bypasses were twice as likely as optimists to need rehospitalization.

You can decide your life is going downhill, but don’t expect the powers that be to listen. It’s better to expect nothing at all.

Maya Itah is a senior majoring in communication. Her column “Tackling the ‘-isms’” runs every other Thursday.