What is an Optimist?
An optimist is a person who engages in positive thinking, or “looking on the bright side” of things. Optimism is the outlook that good things will happen, even if the situation may not appear totally positive at the moment. An optimist is the opposite of a pessimist. While a pessimist focuses on the negative aspects of a situation, the optimist focuses on the positive aspects. The half-empty/half-full glass is a classic example of the difference between optimism and pessimism. The optimist will see the glass as half-full as he or she will appreciate that there is still half a glass of something left. The pessimist, on the other hand, will see the same glass as half-empty as he or she will concentrate on what is missing or no longer in the glass. Sir Winston Churchill was a self-described optimist. He said “For myself, I am an optimist — it does not seem to be much use being anything else.” Optimists tend to be more open to possibilities as, unlike pessimists, they tend to not discount
