Are You A Negative Person

I think the weather has an awful lot to do with it too.

It's fine to be sad if that's how life is for you at a particular time.
It's unhealthy to think otherwise.

pen50 lots of people would love to be like you.

Theodore if you don't feel you're negative ask the person what they meant

I think I might be. I’m certainly more of a worrier than I ever was before. In fact I find myself worrying about things that happened years ago ?
A current example is my grandson and his girlfriend are on holiday in Egypt and posted a couple of pics of them on FB coming out of the sea after a swim. What did I think of? Shark attacks!
I’ve always been very laid back but the state of the world has knocked my optimism out of the window and these days I find Im living in a constant state of low level depression.

I’m a negative person…… positivity got me nowhere. So now the less I expect …. the better it is. I am never disappointed now I’ve stopped being positive!

I'm pessimist I get told I'm negative all the time but it works for me. If I think the worst and it doesnt happen I'm relieved if it does I'm prepared. I have started to try to only keep it to my own life a d try to be more positive with others.

Sometimes. It depends on the circumstances. If I get in a flap I keep expecting disaster with my next move, but on the other hand I am not a worrier and tend to look for the bright side. I tend to take risks too, often with unhelpful outcomes, so maybe it's not so bad to be negative and to have back up plans in place.
I suppose it depends how the negativity expresses itself. I used to manage a team of people and found that those who were constantly negative pulled us down.

I’m in the progress of reading Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman, a most interesting book all about optimism and pessimism, and easy to read. Would recommend it.

It rather depends on the circumstances! I don't think anyone is all one thing or the other!

TheodoraP
What examples/reasons were you given for being negative? Can you open a dialogue with the person(s) who think this way?
My apologies if you've already been asked the question.

I am a worrier but consider myself a very positive person. Like the original poster I've been through a lot and if i wouldn't have been able to always see the light at the end of the tunnel, then I don't know where I'd be now. My husband on the other hand doesn't worry about anything and sleeps at the drop of a hat,but is still a very negative person. We do both sometimes say that we're afraid to be truly happy as something always comes along to knock us down, when we are.

I think there is a difference between being a worrier, and a negative person.

We have a negative person in the block where I live, and quite frankly, she has worn her welcome out with people who were sympathetic at first.

I totally get how you feel Theodora p . I’m definitely a lot more negative about life than I used to be. I try to catch myself doing it as much as possible , as I don’t want to bring other people down. My kids had a standing joke about ‘mum making it dark again’
And I though ?I’ve become a drag

I think it’s because, I’m struggling about getting older and I worry about my family and my future.
I find myself focusing on old age and dying and financial issues a lot.

Not worrying about the future and feeling like anything is what I miss most about being young. X

I'm a realist. I learned years ago that 'happy ever after' happened mostly in fairy tales. If you're glass is always half empty, maybe you're playing with the wrong size glass. Pie-in-the sky expectations often lead to disappointment.

Mark Twain said something to the effect "I've had many problems in my life - and a few of them were real!" There is lots of evidence that optimists don't have to be unrealistic but tend to be happier and healthier. I was interested in people saying they had been helped to have more positive thoughts - great to look for help and be ready to make changes.. I have moved steadily towards optimism and gratitude for what I have as I've got older. We cannot control much of what happens to and around us - but our thoughts and attitudes can be changed and are in our power to change. I wish those who are having a hard time or have negative thoughts a happier way ahead. Writing a gratitude diary makes a huge difference! Just a few minutes writing down what you are grateful for today, every day, can do a lot for your happiness.

My wife accuses me of being negative because I consider Boris Johnson and other Brexiteers lying traitors. I can forgive those voted to leave as they could well have been duped by those who promoted vote.leave. However since that wretched referendum I have yet to see a single Brexit benefit. As for Putin he is just plain evil. I'm sorry if feeling that the current state of affairs makes me seem negative, powerless and hopeless maybe but I am positive about many things I believe to be right.

I'm a glass half empty person but, I'm sure if the world in it's current state suddenly changed to being a bit more upbeat, it might be easier to be more positive. Mind you, cheery people who say "Oh, you've got to be more positive" really annoy me.

Yes, I'm a pessimist- over my lifetime I have found that if I hope for something good I get wacked in the face by bad luck...so hope for the worst and it won't hurt as much

I agree that to have a positive outlook you don’t have to be unrealistic Applegran and you are probably happier. Indeed true we cannot control much of what happens, but our responses can change.
This is why I don’t believe our personality is fixed and we can learn to change for example a tendency to worry constantly.
We have such a short time on this earth, might as well learn to enjoy and appreciate what we have.

Well. I'm a Libran and becoming more so as the decades pass! It probably may seem to others that I am 'glass half empty' as I weigh out the pros and cons of life! I'm 80 now and life has thrown some pretty horrid stuff at me, but also it has given me so much for which to be grateful (see the balancing going on) so if I'm having a 'down' day I tell myself that things will be better tomorrow. And equally if I'm happy now I try not to remind myself that this too might change tomorrow. It's all about learning acceptance and gratitude so that the glass is always nicely balanced at half full. (And my Libran mind makes me point out that if it seems half empty you can always find a way to top it up).

I see I am not alone, in that I am constantly positive but my DH is always so negative. He drives me mad with his comments on a daily basis!

No way! I’m very positive! The only thing negative about me is my blood group AB Rhesus Neg! My glass is always half full ?

There’s some sad souls here on this thread! I’ve found being a little bit negative in your 50’s turns into quite a bit negative as we reach our 60’s and 70’s……and a reasonably positive outlook in your 50’s turns into “ take life as it comes and enjoy it” type of retirement in our 60’s and 70’s. Our attitude through life is a series of choices, but once set in a pattern of either positive or negative then it turns into our default mode when we reach our 60’s 70’s and beyond.

I'm not now religious but was brought up in the Church of Scotland. A few Bible quotations stick.

I have considered any time I have had beyond my "three score years and ten" has been a bonus.

I have probably appreciated these years in my seventies more than my younger years which I took for granted.

I am always optimistic, even through the many low times in my life. I’m still standing (with a glass of wine in my hand!)