Delusions of Optimism

You're waltzing along, lip-synching to the beat of your favorite tune, appreciating how everything in your life is going great. You couldn't possibly be more happy or content when, all of a sudden, the floor gives way and you fall through and are impaled through the head in a pit of large spikes. That's what it's like when your optimism doesn't hold against reality. Maybe that's a metaphor, maybe it isn't.
There is nothing wrong with trying to put a positive spin on things. One could argue that maybe it's even helpful in certain situations - fighting for a lost friend (pessimism would say "it won't matter, they're gone forever") or even losing someone - "Hey, why not try to look on the bright side and focus on all the good memories?" Maybe, sometimes, it even leads to achievements, if you optimistically believe in yourself. It may even breed better feelings of self-worth. But this is purely situational. Optimism should be used sparingly; it should never be used when it is combined with naivete. Look where /that/'s lead us - "Oh, the housing market's greaaaaat! " Look where it is now. "Oh, those protocols and that battery will be fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine not being checked like they're supposed to be, especially since it's not like there's going to be any huge ramifications or anything." Take a gander at the horrible black gold spewing from the ocean floor in the Gulf of Mexico, destroying habitats and ecosystems for ages to come.

Something important to underline is that optimism and naivete are not always partners - you can be naive OR optimistic or a combination of both. The worst kind of optimism is that of a naive optimist - a person whose positivity has little base or standing in reality. This is the kind of person who will not consider the risks of a situation and will get hurt badly by people because they do not realize humanity's ability to harm, and are bound to make the same mistakes over and over. Leave the naivete behind and name a person you know who has never fallen for the optimism bias (falling due to overestimation of good occurrences and underestimation of bad ones). The answer? No one.

But pessimism is surely not the way to live, right? No, the real way to life is to be realistic. Being realistic, you keep your ideals and thoughts in check with reality (or your perception thereof) and maybe don't just give up (pessimism), or get unnaturally happy or have horrendously high expectations (optimism). It's simultaneously the middle ground and the most grounded of the three.

Reality must be more important than fantasy if we are to survive and grow. After all, isn't most of the progress we've ever made been due to our struggle to see the world for how it truly is?