A Pessimist

Yesterday was April the first, and also, for those of you who were ignorant of the occasion; April Fool’s Day.

The usual pranks were played. I know people who called their parents telling them they’d been kicked out of University, friends ‘in need’ who asked for advice on their ‘pregnancies’ and couples who faked break ups, all for the purpose of the occasion.

This was my favourite corporate ‘fool day’ prank!

Oringinal Image courtsey of Roger Hargreaves' 'Mr Happy'

Personally, I quite like to embrace April the 1^st. I’m always on my guard to try and ensure I’m not made a fool of, and like to get up early and make the most of the prankster’s favourite morning.

However, a lot of people HATE the occasion. Whilst I understand that hearing (for example) that your 14 year old sister is pregnant must be highly distressing, surely once you discover it’s not true you can laugh about it? Even if not, rather than being annoyed about the prank for the remainder of the day/week, why not just be grateful April Fool’s Day only comes round once a year?

But then I began to consider that maybe not everyone is able to take something positive away from a situation they deem to be negative.  The Chinese use the same symbols to write ‘crisis’, as they do ‘opportunity’ (apparently!) but not everyone is able to share such an optimistic outlook.

I hate negative thinking. Hate, hate HATE it. I mean, surely it just lowers your quality of life if you’re walking around in a cloud of doom all the time. One of my favourite quotes ever is ‘Life is like a mirror, you get the best results if you smile at it.’ In my mind, never has a truer line been spoken. (The quote even gets a mention on the 'About Me' section of my Facebook page)

Whilst I encourage others to always  view the glass as being half full, am I being unfair when I fail to even consider their negative point of view? For the next seven days I’m going to put my positive disposition into hiding, and see situations for how they really are.

As of today, I shall be Little Miss Pessimistic. Prepare yourself for some major grumbles... although is it too optimistic to think that I'll be able to complete this challenge so readily?!
Apparently my friend Matt Payne seems to think so, unbeknown to me, until now, this is how he percieves me on a day to day basis...

We'll see if my weekly grumbles are of similar calibre to his!