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Rachael's avatar

I feel like before I started following politics and world events, I was 2 (optimism). Becoming more aware I developed a healthy 3 (skepticism). But since this last election I fear I am nose-diving into 1 (cynicism) and struggling to get out/back/better.

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Timothy Patrick's avatar

Recovered cynic here. In my college years, I used it as a shield in a world that I felt was too complex to understand. Everyone else seemed to be either “sheep” who don’t examine the world critically, or they seemed way smarter than me and it was intimidating. Feeling like I was smarter than everyone was nice, and I would dwell on subjects where I could feel superior without doing any work. Feeling like I was dumber than everyone was scary. But if people could see how cynical I was, maybe they would think I was smart for having such negative opinions. It took many years and many patient friends to help me realize that hope isn’t necessarily naive, and I now operate with a presumption that there is a solution to the world’s problems before writing anything off. And it helps not caring so much about what people think about me. It’s not only better for my health, but I bet if you’d ask the people around me they would vote for the hopeful version of me too. 🙂 Thank you for sharing this, Sharon! It’s a great conversation to have right now.

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