By Roland O. Balingan, Jr.
From the way we move, feel, and think, our personal mindset is always involved. The mindset of an individual directly affects or impacts the way they perceive the world around them as well as understanding themselves. Thereby, the way we set our mindset is key to further understanding the self and making a better way of living with the proper mindset.
Amongst other mindsets, I have narrowed down what I personally think is mostly known or heard of which are optimism, realism, and pessimism. The mindset being the way of thinking and seeing things, optimism is defined as the assumption that things will work out in the end. Being a realist is making unbiased judgements in neither positive or negative views, and lastly, pessimism is the assumption that things will go wrong in most situations.
A memory of which I remember to this day, a year before the suspension of classes due to the pandemic was me overseeing the interaction of my classmate and instructor. As my classmate hands over his long overdue output, the instructor naturally does not accept it as it was way past its submission date. In their conversation, the instructor’s words that stuck to me the most was “Effort in futility”. I realize those words are a familiar experience to most people where we place our efforts into something, expecting or hoping for a result that either goes well or is sufficient by our own standards. However, in the end the result is not what we wanted. In reviewing that memory, I think my classmate was optimistic in a way hoping his output would be accepted whereas my instructor delivered his decision by declining his work through a realistic point of view.
When it comes to my personal mindset, I am geared towards the realist mindset. My decisions are always based on the present facts and is limited to what I am capable of doing. As such, I do not expect nor assume the outcomes to go well by a positive or negative outlook. Although, some may confuse realism to pessimism as I remember being called a “negative” person a few times. Since a realist mindset deals more on what is more likely possible to achieve but without overreaching for a greater achievement. This may be a reason why realism is mistaken for being a pessimist.
Then again, the mindset of an individual from time to time changes, it is never permanent. Unlike the Baguio weather, thunderstorms seem to be permanent in the weather forecast. In all seriousness, it is a good time to understand the self and find out what your mindset is. Question yourself if your current mindset is helping you or holding you back. Are you an optimist? Realist? Or a pessimist? If not, maybe a combination of both such as an optimist realist or a pessimist realist. Remember there are more kinds of mindsets. An individual knows their selves best and here is to hoping you are seeking a better understanding of yourself.**
