In praise of the optimism.

Pessimism is a disease of the mind. It is where hope goes to die. It is the virtue of the loser, the quitter. It is the darkness that is cool comfort for those to scared to live before they die.

With the collapse of FTX and the fraudulent and terrible actions surrounding those placed in positions of trust in the crypto community, I find myself re-engaging in the Reddit community. Reddit is the anonymous bastion of the pessimist troll. Those folks whose sole purpose in life is to one-day have a tombstone that reads: "I told you so."

As a voice of hope, and getting beaten down for it, I realized that this thread of intellectual and spiritual suicide permeate throughout our society. Perhaps quitting is the default human solution to the fear of trying.

The reality is that I too can find myself being cynical. Being defeatist. Negativity is seductive. Why try when I can abandon any effort, fail, and tell myself "I knew I would fail."

Uncertainty and the fear around it is terrifying. Failing, seemingly under my own control can feel like a win. It's egocentrically satisfying to believe that I controlled my own destiny.

I am reminded of all my trials. When I was riding a bike and instead of trusting in physics, I bailed out and fell over. I watched my son do the same thing until he began to trust himself. I get to watch my daughter do the same.

I bailed a lot learning to snowboard. There is safety in failure. But I don't want to fail. I want to succeed. I want to see the uncertain future and abandon myself to it. There is growth and joy in the journey of the unknown. Let's embrace the adventure with an attitude of optimism.