Pessimism isn't all bad; a little of it is a good thing. If you have nothing but optimism, you might be ignoring the reality of life. The key is to be generally optimistic, with a healthy dose of pessimism. Since I tend to lean more toward the pessimistic side, I've been teaching myself to counter those whining thoughts that crop up occasionally. In math, if you multiply two negatives, you create a positive. You can take a similar approach to combat pessimism. For example, last month I thought about how the winter seemed to drag on forever; although three consistently cold months had come and gone, we still had a full month of winter to go through. And come to think of it, this winter has been so rough that I haven't accomplished as much as I wanted. And we all know how time flies. (You see how one pessimistic thought can lead to another?) Well, this is where you stop this line of thinking in its tracks and think: “Yeah, time does fly. In fact, it flies so quickly that winter will be over before we know it.”
There is a time and place for pessimism, but for the most part, it is an unwelcome dampener of spirits and an unnecessary worrier of minds. I could say, "Good riddance, winter." But since we could all use a little more optimism, I say without reservation, “Welcome, spring!”