Are You A Negative Person

I'm a WOTEEFF, even when I've got a full glass of wine! In other words, like some other contributors, I tend to see the potential dark side of any situation/suggestion as well as the positive one.
Maybe we could start a facebook group for WOTEEFFS. Trouble is, I'm clueless about facebook, so wont be joining!

PS if you haven;t cottoned on - I'm a 'what if' sort of person.

I wouldn't say negative. But I think things through and I am realistic about things, which some see as negative.

I tend towards negativity, but can on occasion be positive - but I'm often somewhere in-between.

I think that makes me pretty normal, if I'm feeling good about myself.

I'm really a positive person - even when things are going wrong and it all looks awful, I still see hope.

nadateturbe

I'm a combination of positive/negative/and realistic, depending on how I feel at any given moment.
I'm sure that doesn't make sense to anyone.

It makes sense to me, nadateturbe

I'm a mixture of Anne of Green Gables (or is it Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm?) and a worrier about imaginary scenarios.
Coupled with indignation at injustices or misunderstandings!!

JaneJudge

no, I'm just tired

Lol!

I can empathise with that

no, I'm just tired

Thank you ga. Yes I think our childhoods were similar. I've survived it all like you and everyone else but sometimes it seems relentless.
Our latest has arrived. I am close to my sisters. We look out for each other. Our mum died when the girls were teenagers. Our father was vile. I have documented it many times on here! One of my sisters has been going through marital problems, has been distressed, not eating, lost weight etc. It was just beginning to calm down and this week their young nephew (in his 20s - not my nephew, my sister's husband's) was found dead at home. They were quite close to him. Like I say, relentless.

Kate1949 I think you and I possibly had very similar childhoods. When I think of the things I experienced it gives me strength and courage to know that when the worst happens, there is a way to come through it; I’m the living proof (and I think you are too). Optimism is a bit unrealistic perhaps as it assumes only good things; realism says that whatever befalls, for good or ill, it can be survived and lessons learned. Then slowly confidence builds and enjoyment can be attained ‘in the moment’.

O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!

Robert Burns "To a Louse"

Perfect!

O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!

Robert Burns "To a Louse"

Positive

If I ever feel down I think of Katie Piper and all she has had to cope with.

That's it exactly. When bad things keep happening, how can you be optimistic? Any tips welcome.

I hope I'm not negative. I often find that mostly life balances out - if a bad thing happens sometimes something good negates it, if only in a small way to compensate.

Positive

I had an awful childhood, lots of emotional abuse etc and although it can cause the opposite I'm quite resilient.

Tend to just bounce back, dont hold grudges, forgive easily and always try to have positive relationships with people.

I think unless they are outright abusive there is something to like about most people.

Im a bit of a yes person and always say yes when possible and sometimes need to say no for my own good.

The only downside is that I build up my stress and then it all comes out at once sometimes and I just crash. Thankfully after I've dealt with the situation and usually the crashes don't last long

Marydoll

I am a positive person, but my DH the exact opposite.

Same in our house. Every comment he makes is from a negative standpoint. It’s beginning to irk somewhat, after 55 years…. I think we’ll last the course, even so.

When things go wrong that is when we learn I suppose.
That has been my recent experience

when bad things keep happening, for whatever reason, it is difficult to stay positive!
It is, it must be awful to lose hope completely

nadateturbe, you summed up what I was thinking when considering the sort of person I am. If I had to plump for one over the other, I would say I am slightly more positive than negative but I think that is because I am in a much better position than I was as a younger person. I was far more negative then but I think when bad things keep happening, for whatever reason, it is difficult to stay positive!

Well...... it made me smile so..... thank you!

I’m a pragmatic realist who looks for the positive in difficult situations in order to make hard times bearable. People see me as a sort of ‘Pollyanna meets glass-half-full optimist’, but what they don’t see is the process by which I move on from difficulty to acceptance, to positivity.

(Thinking this through with only a half-working brain wasn’t easy. ?)

And it's a positive from me. Urm, you stirring again?!!

No surprises, I am a positive, happy and optimistic person. I genuinely feel like I am walking on sunshine.

I do get weighed down sometimes by DH’s negativity and my then good and cheerful disposition quickly dissolves. If I say look at that lovely blue sky he will look for (and find) some clouds. When we used to go for lovely country walks and I waxed lyrical about the views, the trees, the lambs in the fields and just the general loveliness, he would just say “Yes”.
It seems from this thread to be that men are more negative, but they probably are more realistic. I try to look on the bright side maybe to negate any fears or worries I might otherwise have. I really don’t know. Maybe I’m just trying to push away what would otherwise be anxieties. Badly explained, but I know what I mean!

I prefer to be considered pragmatic. Life is not all sunshine and sometimes we have to be realistic rather than just hopeful.

I always have an inner faith that things will turn out right in the end. They usually do, at least up to now. When things go wrong that is when we learn I suppose.