Reading

VARIATIONS ON A THEME

Posted on by vlaw759
Sometimes the appeal of fan fiction includes fabulous dance numbers!

For the last several months my preferred escapist reading has been variations on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. What’s the appeal?

Well, for one thing, I enjoy seeing the varied ways a writer can use Pride and Prejudice as a starting point for so many related but different stories!

In addition to dodging social pitfalls, the Bennets must dodge hordes of the roaming undead.
  • One of the Bennet daughters is an heiress.
  • Mr. Bennet dies and the women must make their way by working, sometimes for their Uncle Gardiner, sometimes as companions.
  • Lydia marries someone other than George Wickham.
  • Jane marries someone other than Charles Bingley.
  • Elizabeth is a widow, often with a child.
  • Mary Bennet marries Collins, and Charlotte Lucas marries someone else entirely.
  • Elizabeth and Darcy become trapped alone together in a flood and must marry because of the “compromise.”
  • Elizabeth and Darcy first meet in their teens and reunite years later.
  • Minor characters shift personalities, behaviors, and support.
  • Jane Austen characters from other novels make an appearance.
  • Longbourn is not entailed.
  • Mrs. Bennet dies; Mr. Bennet remarries and has an heir.
  • Elizabeth is kidnapped.
  • Darcy saves Elizabeth’s life and vice versa.
  • The events of the story are mere background in the lives of the Bennets’ servants, who are dealing with their own problems.

And what makes these stories most comforting is that, whatever happens to other characters or the plot, Darcy and Elizabeth always end up together.

One of Austen’s first imitators was Sybil G. Brinton, whose novel Old Friends and New Fancies (1913) features characters from nearly all of Austen’s novels.

The Kindle Store offers literally hundreds of these stories, to buy or borrow. They come up when a user searches the store for Pride and Prejudice variations. These novels are a version of fan fiction (also known as fanfiction, fan fic, fanfic, fic, or FF).

from the Jane Austen Parade for Literacy, 2019

Fan Fiction

A fan-made movie poster for a cross-over fic casting the characters from BBC’s Merlin in the roles of Pride and Prejudice by ls311 on deviantart

Fan fiction is fiction created by fans—(duh!)—typically in an amateur capacity, that is based on an existing work of fiction, using their characters, settings or other intellectual properties but not authorized by the original creator(s).

Sometimes fan fiction is based on real life celebrities or politicians.

Fan fiction can range from poems and short stories to novel-length works and can be based on various media, including books, movies, TV shows, comics, video games, music videos, board games, and more. 

Fan fiction allows fans to explore their favorite characters, settings, and storylines in new ways, often continuing canon narratives, exploring alternate universes, or creating original stories within the established framework. 

Examples

A graphic novel from Marvel Comics based on Pride and Prejudice
  • Stories based on popular TV shows like “Supernatural” or “Only Murders in the Building”. 
  • Stories based on books like “Harry Potter” or “Twilight”. 
  • Stories based on movies like “Star Wars” or “Avengers”. 
  • Stories inspired by other forms of media (such as the language learning app Duolingo).
  • Poetry and song lyrics reflecting characters or elements of a story

Fan fiction websites, such as Archive of Our Own, Fanfiction.net, and Wattpad, attract millions of daily page views, and many social media users share or discuss fan fiction on Tumblr, Discord, Instagram, and TikTok . 

While fan fiction often uses copyrighted material, it is generally considered fair use because it is a transformative work, and the original creators are unlikely to take legal action.  One must be more cautious when writing variations of more modern works. For works out of copyright, such as Pride and Prejudice, this is never a problem.

Jane Austen’s Fandom

One of the earliest film adaptations, in 1940, starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier

Jane Austen fan fiction, or JAFF, is a very popular and thriving genre, with numerous published and unpublished works, and has seen an increase in popularity since the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. As I said at the beginning, I greatly enjoy Pride and Prejudice variations.

The Austen fandom boomed after the release of the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries and the 2005 film adaptation.

There are numerous published Austen-inspired novels, with Pride and Prejudice being the most popular source of inspiration, accounting for at least 900 published books. The number of unpublished stories on various JAFF sites at least doubles that number. 

Modern adaptations of Austen’s works, including “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries,” have also drawn in new audiences, including those who may not have read the original novels. 

My particular escapist reading is rooted in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, but whatever your taste, there’s surely fan fiction out there for you!

Pride and Prejudice: Blood Ties, a role-playing video game that blends Jane Austen’s work with vampires

Evolution of Fan Fiction

Elizabeth Bennet drawn in the style of an anime chibi, by twosugars16 on DeviantArt

“Despite its ties to the Internet, fan fiction is nothing new. English-language fan fiction can be traced to the 18th century. Jonathan Swift’s satiric novel Gulliver’s Travels (1726) inspired some of the earliest fan fiction, including a series of poems by Alexander Pope. In one such piece, Pope imagined Gulliver’s wife bemoaning her adventurer husband’s long absence and his uninterest in her upon his return, accusing him of infidelity during his journeys: “Not touch me! never neighbour call’d me slut! Was Flimnap’s dame more sweet in Lilliput?” (britannica.com)

Because it is, by definition, “derivative,” fan fiction often gets less respect than other fiction. However, many successful traditionally published authors have written fan fiction, including Meg Cabot.

Orson Scott Card, though he says he hates fan fiction, has published “fanfic” at some point in his career.

from Charles Ross: One Man Pride and Prejudice, a stage play in Vancouver, 2019

Author Neil Gaiman inspires fan fiction, and he’s also written it. His novel Good Omens (1990), written with Sir Terry Pratchett, has nearly 50,000 entries on Archive of Our Own. Gaiman’s story “A Study in Emerald” (2003) imagines a crossover between the worlds of Conan Doyle and H.P. Lovecraft, creating a
Sherlock Holmes-style mystery with a supernatural twist. In 2004, members of the World Science Fiction Convention named it the year’s best short story.

“Early fan fiction, like its contemporary counterparts, could be bolder and more sexually explicit than its source material. Henry Fielding wrote a sensual fan fiction of Samuel Richardson’s sentimental novel Pamela (1740). Amusingly titled Shamela (1741), it reimagines Richardson’s protagonist without the burdensome virtue of chastity. Similarly, in the 19th and 20th centuries the works of Jane Austen and Arthur Conan Doyle became popular fodder for fan fiction writers, who may have wondered, What happened between the lines of the original stories?” (britannica.com)

Inspiration

Illustration from Pride and Prejudice and Enterprise, a Star Trek crossover, by NaOH-giveup

Fan fiction shows up in unexpected (by me) places. For example, Biblical fanfic is (could be) a thing. Some in the fan fiction community have gone so far as to call apocryphal writings or Dante’s epic poem The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–21) “biblical fanfic.” Although people generally consider religious literature to be a unique genre, in the Internet age, The Divine Comedy has inspired its own fan fiction, including more than 150 related works on Archive of Our Own. On Fanfiction.net, the Bible has inspired about 4,000 fan pieces.

The huge number of Sherlock Holmes fans inspired the Baker Street Journal (1946), a fan magazine that published a mix of scholarly writing and fan fiction. Ellery Queen’s “My First Meeting with Sherlock Holmes” was one of those. Actually, according to britannica.com, Queen was also a fiction, created by authors Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee. (Dannay and Lee also launched Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine in 1941, which still publishes crime fiction.)

Harry Potter has inspired more than twice as many stories as any other fandom. In second place is the anime Naruto.

Among TV series, the BBC’s Sherlock, which has had only four seasons, generated 29,000 works of fanfiction per season. That’s almost 30% more than the runner up, Teen Wolf, which averages a little more than 20,000 stories per season over six seasons.

Big fandoms tend to be older ones (for example Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, and Supernatural).

Illustration of Star Wars: Rogue One characters in the roles of Pride and Prejudice by Blooming Cyre

Although books often generate fan fiction, here are 5 famous books generated by fanfiction:

  1. The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare
  2. Point Pleasant by Jen Archer Wood
  3. Paradise Lost by John Milton
  4. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
  5. 50 Shades of Grey by EL James

Why Fan Fiction?

Fans “cos-playing” as characters from Pride and Prejudice, dressing up and acting out the story to better suit the way they thought it should have gone. photo by Ringmasah

Many people write and read fanfic for many reasons.

Fan fiction fosters a sense of community among fans who share an interest in the same media. In addition to exchanging direct contact details, fans can join online communities, Discord servers, subReddits, Tumblr clusters, zine boards, etc. with other fans of similar media. Some fans even set up conventions and local meet-ups.

Some writers use prompts from other fans as writing practice. For example, Sherlock fans will challenge each other to write 221B “drabbles.” They try to tell a story in 221 words, ending with a word that begins with the letter B (in honor of Holmes and Watson’s shared flat at 221B Baker Street). Other prompts include chain stories, collaborations with illustrators, retelling scenes from the point of view of a background character, resetting a story in one’s hometown with local slang, experimenting with first or second person narrative, and just about anything else one might imagine.

Other reasons fans write their own stories:

A lesbian young adult romance in which a young Pittsburgh writer is magically transported to meet the Bennet sisters
  • As a chance to explore and share interests, such as setting the story in a particular historical setting or having characters exploring niche hobbies
  • Providing representation the fan writer feels is missing, whether self-insertion or widening the role of minorities overlooked by the original author
  • Correcting perceived plot holes, factual inaccuracies, or underdeveloped characters
  • Simply making the story turn out the way the fan writer would have preferred!

Bottom Line: If you ever wish you could change a story’s ending or hate to cut ties with particular characters, the solution could be fan fiction. Ditto if you just want to avoid too much news!

CHOCOLATE: The Good, the Bad, and the History

Posted on by vlaw759

I’m a confirmed chocolate lover. And I’m not alone here! Great taste, a reward after a tough day, a favorite holiday gift…

Chocolate is the preferred choice of sweets for many. Which is what makes chocolate big business. The chocolate industry is worth over £100 billion. Chocolate is the most popular U.S. candy product, favored by 90% of consumers. Nearly half (47%) spend $5-$10 a few times a month buying chocolate at the grocery store. (FYI: Switzerland is the world’s top consumer of chocolate per capita.)

Consumers buy an incredible 90 million pounds of chocolate candy during Halloween week, giving it a strong lead compared to other holidays. Retailers sell almost 65 million pounds during the week leading up to Easter. Although 57% of Valentine’s Day gift-givers give candy, only 48 million pounds of chocolate are sold during Valentine’s week. This includes more than 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate every year for Valentine’s Day.

Of the $1.9 billion sold on Halloween candy each year, $1.2 billion was for chocolate candy and only $680 million for sugar candy.

And then there is the impact of the chocolate industry on other products! U.S. chocolate manufacturers currently use 40 percent of the almonds produced in the United States and 25 percent of domestic peanuts.

Chocolatey Celebrations

Chocolate is so popular that many days of the year are designated for its celebration in various ways.

  • 1/31 National Hot Chocolate Day
    • People originally consumed chocolate as a beverage. Thomas Jefferson was a big fan of a drink using stone-roasted cacao, sugar and spices.
  • 2/25 National Chocolate Covered Nut Day
  • 5/15 National Chocolate Chip Day
  • 6/16 National Fudge Day
    • Chocolate is only one option for fudge flavors!
  • 7/7 International World Chocolate Day
  • 7/25 National Hot Fudge Sundae Day
  • 8/4 National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day
    • Ruth Wakefield invented the chocolate chip cookie in the 1930s. In 1939 she sold her recipe and the Toll House name to Nestlé, reputedly in return for a lifetime supply of chocolate!
  • 8/20 National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day
  • 9/27 National Chocolate Milk Day
    • According to the Smithsonian, an Irish botanist, Sir Hans Sloane, in Jamaica in the early 1700s, drank a cocoa drink that he found so bitter he added milk, thus creating the first chocolate milk mixture. He then left Jamaica and returned to England, where he sold the chocolatey concoction as medicine.
  • 10/13 National M&M Day
  • 11/7 National Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds Day
  • 12/13 National Cocoa Day
  • 12/28 National Chocolate Candy Day

At EuroChocolate Festival in Italy

The popularity of chocolate is reflected in chocolate-themed Hershey Park, the largest amusement park in Pennsylvania, as well as Hersheytown. A huge new park is scheduled to open in 2027. In addition, there are more than 60 chocolate museums around the world, including in Belgium, Canada, Germany, Spain, and the United States.

Keep in mind that chocolate and cocoa are not the same thing. Essentially, chocolate is a processed version of cocoa that includes added ingredients like sugar and cocoa butter to achieve its smooth texture and appealing flavor. 

A Little Chocolate History

From the Codex Tudela, an Aztec woman pouring chocolate from one vessel to another

Historians credit the Olmec civilization of southern Mexico as being the first to roast the fruit from the cacao tree, then grind it down and mix it with water and other ingredients (but not milk or sugar). Archaeologists have discovered Olmec pottery with trace amounts of chocolate dating back to
around 1700 BCE.

During the Revolutionary War, medics would often dole out cups of hot chocolate to wounded and dying soldiers. Military leaders gave out hot chocolate mixes monthly to soldiers, and sometimes offered them in lieu of wages.

Milton Hershey of Lancaster, PA introduced the first Hershey milk chocolate bar in 1900. Foil-wrapped Hershey’s Kisses appeared in 1906. Ever wondered about that little piece of paper hanging out of a Hershey’s Kiss? That was the company’s way of flagging their candy so consumers would know that it was an original Hershey’s Kiss. The little paper tail is known as a plume.

Soldiers’ rations in the Spanish Civil War inspired Forrest Mars, Sr to create M&Ms: plain chocolate candies in a shell of hard sugar. Chocolate melts at 93°F, which is below the average human body temperature. Remember this slogan? “M&Ms melt in your mouth, not in your hand!”

Mars joined Bruce Murrie (son of Hershey executive William Murrie) to produce M&Ms in 1941, marketing them as in response to slack chocolate sales in summer.

During World War II, M&Ms were sold exclusively to the US military because of their durability.

Hershey’s had an exclusive contract with the American military to supply chocolate for soldiers’ rations during World War II. They specifically created the D-Ration Bar to “taste a little better than a boiled potato” to discourage soldiers from eating only their chocolate ration and nothing else. The recipe for these emergency chocolate rations made a viscous liquid so thick that it clogged the regular manufacturing machines and required hand-packing into molds.

Hershey produced a Tropical D-Ration specifically designed to withstand the high temperatures in the Pacific Theater.

M&Ms were the first candies to go into space, sent with the crew of the NASA shuttle Columbia in 1981.

Chocolate Medicine

Chocolates are a popular form of self-medication.

In the 1800’s, physicians commonly advised their broken-hearted patients to eat chocolate to calm their pining.

Chocolate has been shown to improve depression and anxiety symptoms and to help enhance feelings of calmness and contentedness. Both the flavanols and methylxanthines are believed to play a role in chocolate’s mood-enhancing effects. The presence of compounds like phenylethylamine in cocoa can contribute to feelings of happiness and well-being as well.

Even the smell of chocolate can help you relax and reduce stress! A study conducted by psychologist Neil Martin at Middlesex University in Enfield, England concluded that the aroma of chocolate reduced attentiveness.  Also, there are at least six varieties of flowers that naturally smell like chocolate: Carolina Allspice, Columbine-Chocolate Soldier, Chocolate Daisy, Chocolate Vine, Cosmos -Chocolate, and the Oncidium Orchid. A chocolate alternative for aromatherapy, perhaps!

Approximately 70% of people in a cross-sectional survey were less like to report depressive symptoms if they had eaten dark chocolate within the last 24 hours.

Chocolate can’t replace traditional treatment options for depressive feelings with mood disorders, but science may support its role in your diet.

Other cocoa benefits, maximized by choosing minimally processed cocoa powder or dark chocolate with high cocoa content:

Cacao pods in varying states of ripeness
  • Antioxidant power: cocoa is packed with antioxidants, particularly flavanols, which combat free radical damage in the body and may protect against chronic diseases. 
  • Cardiovascular health: studies suggest cocoa can help lower blood pressure, improve blood vessel function, and potentially reduce the risk of heart disease due to its impact on blood flow. 
  • Improved cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
  • Brain function: cocoa may enhance cognitive abilities like memory and focus due to its influence on neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. 
  • Potential anti-inflammatory effects: cocoa’s polyphenols may help reduce inflammation in the body.

Chocolatey “Perks”

Chocolate’s reputation as a pick-me-up is greatly aided by the fact that chocolate is sweetened, so there’s a sugar boost along with the caffeine.

A one-ounce piece of milk chocolate contains about the same amount of caffeine as a cup of decaffeinated coffee.

Although a bar of dark chocolate has about 29 milligrams of caffeine, a small cup of regular coffee has about 94.

Dark chocolate has more caffeine than any other type of chocolate. Cocoa solids contain the caffeine. Cocoa beans harvested during a dry season contain more caffeine. The method of processing and roasting the beans also affects the caffeine content.

Chocolate type matters! Dark chocolate, with higher cocoa content, generally has more health benefits compared to milk chocolate, which contains more sugar and fat.  In fact, more than half of people in a recent survey from the National Confectioners Association described dark chocolate as a “better for you” candy.

Over-Indulgence

Beware too much chocolate! Addiction to chocolate is called “chocoholism.” It is not a scientifically recognized term.

Cocoa powder is naturally bitter, no sugar at all. The effects of added sugar intake from chocolate— higher blood pressure, inflammation, diabetes, and fatty liver disease — are all linked to an increased risk for heart attack and stroke.

Weight Gain
High calorie intake from chocolate can lead to weight gain if consumed excessively, especially when replacing healthier food options. 

Dental Issues
The sugar in chocolate can contribute to tooth decay if not properly brushed after consumption. 

Digestive Problems
Some people might experience stomach upset, bloating, or diarrhea due to the fat and sugar content in chocolate, especially milk chocolate. 

Cardiovascular Concerns
Regularly consuming large amounts of chocolate, particularly with high saturated fat content, might contribute to elevated cholesterol levels and increase the risk of heart disease. 

Blood Sugar Fluctuations
The sugar in chocolate can cause blood sugar spikes, potentially contributing to diabetes risk in susceptible individuals. 

Caffeine Overdose
While the caffeine content in dark chocolate is lower than coffee, consuming excessive amounts can lead to sleep disturbances, anxiety, and jitters. 

Skin Issues
Some people experience acne breakouts after consuming large quantities of chocolate.

Individual Sensitivities
People with specific allergies or digestive sensitivities should be cautious with chocolate consumption and consult a healthcare professional if needed. 

Chocolate Dangers

And then there are heavy metals. Cadmium and lead—two heavy metals linked to a host of health problems in children and adults—are virtually unavoidable in dark chocolate. Consumer Reports scientists recently measured the amount of heavy metals in 28 dark chocolate bars, including Dove, Ghirardelli, Lindt, and Hershey’s, for lead and cadmium. All of them contained both metals. For 23 of them, just an ounce of chocolate violates California’s maximum allowable dose levels (MADL) for lead or cadmium.

Significant exposure to cadmium can cause lung cancer, birth defects, and other reproductive harm. Significant exposure to lead can slow children’s growth growth and development and damage the brain and nervous system.

The good news is that it’s possible for dark chocolate to maintain low levels of heavy metals: five of the 28 bars tested had levels of lead and cadmium within the California limitations.

Johns Hopkins Medicine toxicologist Andrew Stolbach told NPR “The [MADL] safety levels for lead and cadmium are set to be very protective, and going above them by a modest amount isn’t something to be
concerned about,” he said. “If you make sure that the rest of your diet is good and sufficient in calcium and iron, you protect yourself even more by preventing absorption of some lead and cadmium in your diet.”

Note: Chocolate can be toxic to cats and dogs because they can’t metabolize theobromine, a component in chocolate. 

Bottom Line: Moderation is key. Enjoying chocolate in moderation as part of a balanced diet is key to reaping potential benefits without experiencing negative effects.

Christmas Movies Based on Books

Posted on by vlaw759

Reading, unless you’re reading aloud, tends to be a solitary past-time. However, watching movies based on or inspired by books can be a group activity. Watching movies inspired by Christmas books could be a fun way to combine the best of both worlds while visiting loved ones during the holiday season. So here, for your watching pleasure, is a selection of Christmas movies based on books.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Although not as old as some, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Dr. Seuss) is definitely a Christmas classic. Three film adaptations of the story have come out, in 1966, 2000, and 2018.

The Polar Express

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. The 2004 movie has had a mixed reception, but it appears that most people like the book.

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas

Clement Moore’s 1823 poem Account of a Visit from Saint Nicholas is more commonly known as ’Twas the Night Before Christmas.  There was a silent film version of the story made in 1905. The original plot is a secondary story in the 1974 film by Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass—but then, most movies vary from the books. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) retains almost nothing of the original story except Santa Claus and his reindeer!

The Gift of Love (The Gift of the Magi)

The Gift of Love (1978) was loosely based on The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry, published in 1905.

The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker (based on The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffman) is more than a ballet. It’s been made into a movie at least four times—in 1993, 1986, 2016, and 2018.

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens) may be the most filmed book of all. Movie versions were released in 1938, 1951, 1984, 1999, 2001, and 2009; musical versions in 1970 & 2004; and various take-offs like Mickey’s Christmas Carol in 1983, Scrooged in 1988, The Muppet Christmas Carol in 1992, Ebenezer in 1998, A Christmoose Carol in 2006.

It’s a Wonderful Life

A Christmas Carol also inspired Philip Van Doren Stern’s 1943 short story The Greatest Gift. In 1946, Frank Capra produced It’s a Wonderful Life, loosely based on Stern’s story.

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas (Agatha Christie) is a festive favorite of diehard mystery fans. It was adapted as an episode of the Hercule Poirot television series in 1994.

The Snow Queen

With its snowy setting and themes of overcoming winter, Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Snow Queen, is often included with Christmas stories. The story has been made into several films, ballets, operas, ice skating productions, television series, and animes. The 2013 Disney film Frozen is loosely based on the original Andersen story.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Robert Lewis May first published Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer  in 1939 as a promotion for Montgomery Ward department store. Several film adaptations have been made, including the stop-motion animated film in 1964, a full-length animated film in 1998, and Olive, the Other Reindeer in 1999.

The Hogfather

Terry Pratchett’s 1996 comedic novel Hogfather, though taking place in an entirely fantasy world, “begins on a midwinter festival bearing a remarkable similarity to your Christmas.” In 2006, the BBC adapted the novel as a four-hour miniseries.

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

L. Frank Baum wrote The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus in 1902. The original illustrations by Mary Cowles Clark inspired the look of the stop-motion film in 1985 and the animated film in 2000.

Miracle on 34th Street

Technically, Miracle on 34th Street shouldn’t be here, as the book by Valentine Davies and the movie came out simultaneously in 1947. But who wants to be technical? The film was remade in 1994.

And if you want still more movie options, go to imbd.com for 100+ Christmas movies based on books.

Of course, you should feel free to read the books instead—or even in addition!

WHO KNEW?

Posted on by vlaw759

People are funny, strange, and wondrous creatures! Just read on.

Hobbies

Estimates are that 400,000-500,000 people in the U.S,—more than 95% of them women—play Mah Jong with the National Mah Jong League card. Another 350,000,000 play thirteen versions of Mah Jong in Asia. Game experts have long recognized mah jong as the world’s most played game, with an estimated player base in Asia, Europe, and North American ten times bigger than poker. 

Who are the most optimistic pet owners in the U.S.? Tortoise owners, because tortoises can live 80-150 years! (I couldn’t find a number specifically for tortoise owners, but approximately 18% of American households keep tortoises or turtles as pets.)

Only 1-2% of the U.S. population has gone skydiving at least once.

Rock climbing? It depends on what type of climbing you are looking at. Women are 59% of sports climbers, but only 39% of those in mountaineering, ice, and traditional climbing combined. Then there is indoor vs. outdoor climbers, and boulderers, each of which have different gender makeups.

Among U.S. households, 52% have at least one person, age 5 or older, who is currently playing a musical instrument.  Two-thirds of Americans (66%) learned to play a musical instrument at some point in their lives.  The most popular musical instrument is the guitar.  The double bass is probably the least played instrument.

The average American spends only 19 minutes a day reading. The average number of books read by adults over the age of 65 is higher than any other age group, at around 20 books per year. Men tend to read non-fiction books more often than women.

Gender

Tiffany Hadish performing stand-up in 2013

Men tell more jokes professionally than women do. In the United States, 11.3% of stand up comedians are women and 88.7% of stand up comedians are men. Over an 11 year period, these percentages have shifted approximately 2% in favor of women. Systemic sexism in the industry (venue directors reluctant to book female comedians, backstage abuse, pay disparities, hostile crowds, etc.) are a bigger driver in this divide than any difference in innate funniness.

Being in love is biochemically the same as having a severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, according to researcher Dr. Donatella Marazziti.

Research on liking and loving between engaged couples found that the men loved their partners more than they liked them. The women both liked and loved their partners.

Equal numbers of males and females are conceived. Approximately 105 males are born for every 100 females.

Women survive famine and epidemics better than men. On the other hand, research has shown that women disproportionately suffer the impacts of disasters, severe weather events, and climate change.

One study found that men with longer ring fingers than index fingers had slightly longer penises. However, the common misconception that hand size predicts penis size has been widely discredited.

Research shows that women with larger breasts tend to have higher estrogen levels; breast size may therefore serve as an indicator of potential fertility.

Health

Approximately 60% of people are side sleepers. Only about 7% are stomach sleepers—which is fortunate, because stomach sleeping is the least healthful position.

Depth of sleep is related to brain waves. Convincing yourself you slept well can trick your brain into thinking it did.

A feel-good life is not necessarily a healthy one. Stress can be good for us. Stress is a powerful motivator. It can enhance your resilience and problem-solving skills, strengthen relationships, promote personal growth and self-improvement, and improve cognitive function.

Female pattern baldness affects about one-third of all women and people assigned female at birth (AFAB). The chances of getting female pattern baldness increase with age.

Caucasians experience the most hair loss; people of Afro-Caribbean heritage tend to experience the next highest levels of hair loss, with Asian men having the lowest hair loss rates.

On average, male pattern baldness begins in the late twenties to early thirties. By the age of 50, approximately 50% of men will experience some degree of hair loss.

For both men and women, pattern baldness tends to cluster in families. Having a close relative with patterned hair loss appears to be a risk factor for developing the condition.

Outlook

Nationally forty-seven percent of Americans are either very or somewhat optimistic, while the other 53 percent are more inclined to be somewhat or very pessimistic about the future.

Speaking in a foreign language might change your decisions or the reasons for those decisions.

In addition, speaking multiple languages gives a person a sense of reality and identity that is separate from monolinguals and monoculturals.

US research published in the Journal of Consumer Research indicates bilinguals may unconsciously switch personalities depending on the language they are using.

The type of music you listen to affects the way you perceive the world. According to results from a 2014 study done by Laura Getz and colleagues, those with a higher perceived idea of stress and those with higher optimism preferred more upbeat and popular music. Both also used this kind of music for emotional regulation.

Wisco and Nolen-Hoeksema (2009) found that those who were already unhappy had more negative memory associations [to songs] than those who were not unhappy.

90% of people text things they can’t say in person.

The food you make may not taste the same as the food someone else makes, despite following the same recipe. Minor differences in things like water hardness and oven temperature affect flavor, but the diner’s experience (happy or sad occasion, food presentation, level of hunger, speed of eating, etc.) also changes the taste of food.

Research indicates that those eating with others eat up to 48% more food than solo diners. This phenomenon is known as ‘social facilitation’.

People After Death

Barbara Kemmis, head of the Cremation Association of North America, says the cremation rate is almost 60 %, compared to 40% who opt for traditional casket burials.

Beyond urns, there are many options for ashes: made into jewelry, or different types of objects, such as  glass art, sculptures, diamonds, keychains, or hunting bullets. You can even turn your loved one’s ashes into a  vinyl album  or get them tattooed into your own skin.  Of course, many people choose to scatter cremains in special places. 

Bottom Line: Whatever you want to know about human behavior or characteristics, someone has studied it and shared those answers online.

BEACH READS 2024

Posted on by vlaw759

Operational definition of beach reads: anything that’s read at the beach! Many of you know that I poll family members about their reading during our annual gathering at the beach. This year we were fourteen people, ages 15-93.

Actually, there was less reading than usual going on this year. One woman was submitting her thesis for a master’s degree in public health and another was job hunting. One man had two work-related zoom sessions. Two people had major cold symptoms, and one of those spiked a temperature a bit over 102—with weakness, sweats, and chills—and ended up in the ER from 11:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., with two others in attendance.

Nevertheless, without attribution, in no particular order, here is the list:

Bottom Line: I can’t speak for or against any of these, merely put them forth as books chosen by people I love.

Historical Mystery as a Peek at Past Life

Posted on by vlaw759
Today’s guest blog was written by Kathleen Corcoran

History was one of my favorite subjects in school, mostly because I’m a very nosy person. I always wanted to know details of other people’s lives. What did samurai have for breakfast? How do Inuit living above the Arctic Circle stay warm? Where did Irish Druids camp? These questions, not battles and trade agreements, are the types of historical mystery that I want to know!

Fortunately, many historians share my nosiness (though they’d probably word it more professionally) and have written fascinating works of historical fiction to explore these tiny details. One of the best methods to explore the daily lives of a variety of people in the past is through mystery series. Over the course of solving a crime, an investigator typically must interact with a variety of people. And I get to read about all these interactions and be as nosy as I like!

These mystery series are some of my favorites for the amount of detail the authors have included and the way they’ve represented the tensions and different viewpoints of the time periods in their books.

Sister Fidelma by Peter Tremayne

While performing her legal duties in 7th Century Ireland, Sister Fidelma comes across an awful lot of crimes. In the course of her investigations, she travels widely through Ireland, England, and Rome, interacting with people in every profession and social class along the way. She also has a front-row seat for the seismic changes happening at the time in the Catholic Church, which I found easier to follow in fiction than in my history textbooks.

Perveen Mistry by Sujata Massey

One of the reasons I enjoy historical mystery series is that the person investigating typically has a reason to look into people and places the reader might not otherwise know about. In the case of Perveen Mistry, social convention dictates that she is the only one who can talk to the people involved in the cases she solves. Along the way, the reader can learn about daily life, religious strictures, and legal tensions in 1920s India.

The Alienist by Caleb Carr

In addition to recreating the atmosphere of New York City in 1896, Caleb Carr walks the reader through the early days of forensic psychology. This historical mystery series focuses on the evolution of psychology as a science and the use of forensic science as a tool for the police. The beginnings of the modern police force, cameos by real figures from history, and juxtaposition of New York’s gilded mansions and slums evoke the atmosphere of the time.

Charlotte & Thomas Pitt by Anne Perry

Murder mysteries set in Victorian London are nothing new, but I particularly like the way these books explore middle-class attitudes toward police and respectability. In solving his cases, Inspector Pitt frequently comes up against butlers and ladies of the house who simply refuse to cooperate. After all, detectives ask so many rude questions and behave quite above their station! It’s a good thing Inspector Pitt can rely on his wife Charlotte to help him navigate the minefield of social sensibilities.

The Tay-Bodal Mysteries by Mardi Oakley Medawar

The first book in this historical mystery series takes place in 1866, among a gathering of the bands of the Kiowa nation. While Tay-Bodal goes about the business of solving a murder, the author includes descriptions of people around him preparing food, discussing treaty negotiations, repairing clothing and equipment, and going about their daily routines. These books have so much detail about the time period, but they also make it much easier to follow historical events occurring and their impacts on the people involved.

Sano Ichiro by Laura Joh Rowland

In feudal Japan, Sano Ichiro must dance cautiously around court politics, rigid social hierarchies, and a million unwritten rules of behavior to find justice. His investigations are set against a backdrop of major events in Japanese history, including the 1703 earthquake in Edo and the tale of the 47 Ronin.

Lt Billy Boyle by James R Benn

Even in the middle of a global war, someone still needs to bring murderers to justice. When the Army higher-ups find out about newly-enlisted Billy Boyle’s background as a detective in Boston, they put him to work tracking down people who commit murder in times of war. He visits just about every European conflict in World War II, giving the reader a look into the world of French partisans, the Irish Republican Army, and the Sicilian Mafia in the 1940s.

Li Du by Elsa Hart

China has an astonishing variety of climates, cultures, languages, and history. Li Du, an Imperial librarian in the early 18th Century, experiences many of them while investigating mysteries. Sometimes, he works on behalf of the Emperor, and sometimes he works despite Imperial wishes. His questions take him into a Tibetan guesthouse, the underbelly of civil service exams, and behind the scenes of negotiations with Jesuit missionaries.

Benjamin January by Barbara Hambly

Set in the 1830s in New Orleans, this historical mystery series highlights all the ways that city have changed and how it’s stayed the same. Benjamin January, a Creole physician, deals with the complexities of a pre-Emancipation city, moving through many layers of society while tracking down miscreants and murderers. The reader meets voudon practitioners, fancy hotel patrons, and riverboat smugglers among details of music and food that bring New Orleans to life.

The Hangman’s Daughter (Die Henkerstochter) by Oliver Pötzsch

This series starts out on a very small scale, set entirely within a small Bavarian village in 1659, just after the Thirty Years’ War. As the sequels progress, the author takes the reader through all of Bavaria, weaving discussions of folklore and politics with the history of the region.

Three Imperial Roman Detectives

Marcus Didius Falco (by Lindsey Davis) works as a private investigator of sorts, looking into crimes without the official backing of the state. One of the most interesting things I found in this series is the discussions of the various forms of Roman law enforcement and jurisdiction. There is also a spin-off series of mysteries starring Marcus Didius Falco’s daughter, allowing the reader to see some of the other side of the gender divide in Roman society.

Gaius Petreus Ruso (by Ruth Downie) is a Roman army doctor (a medicus) posted to the far northern reaches of the Empire, in Britannia. While he solves crimes, the reader sees a wide swath of Imperial Roman society, with plenty of details about the local tribes in what is Chester, England today and their uneasy truce with the Romans.

Libertus (by Rosemary Rowe) has earned his freedom from slavery by the time the first novel in this series opens. However, this backstory allows the author to explore the intricacies of Roman practices of slavery and social hierarchies through Libertus’s detective work.

Edie Kiglatuk by MJ McGarth

This isn’t actually a historical mystery series, but the setting and details are so fascinating that I’m including it here. Edie Kiglatuk is an Inuit guide, schoolteacher, and sometimes hunter on a tiny island far north of the Arctic Circle. She investigates crimes in her community while dealing with settlement politics, historical trauma, and some of the most inhospitable terrain humans manage to survive. In later books in the series, she visits other communities in the far north of Russia and Greenland, and the reader gets a glimpse of the cultural similarities of communities separated by so much distance.

IMAGINE CREATIVITY!

Posted on by vlaw759

Have you ever stopped to consider the difference between creativity and imagination? Clearly, the two are linked, but how do they affect each other?

The authors at the Discover Building Sets blog explain the relationship between imagination and creativity this way: “Creativity is commonly referred to as the ability to create something real using imagination. Whereas imagination is the capability to create in one’s own mind what does not exist. The imagination come first and is necessary for creativity but not the other way around.

Oxford Languages defines imagination as the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses. And creativity is the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work.

“Life in the Minds of Children”
Mehdinom

Highly Creative People

The obvious question is, who’s the most creative of them all?

Determining the most creative person ever is highly subjective but there have been lots of people who have made groundbreaking contributions in various fields, demonstrating exceptional creativity. Quoting Kriti Roy (writing at Quora), some people often mentioned for their creativity include:

  • Leonardo da Vinci: Leonardo da Vinci is renowned for his extraordinary artistic skills, scientific explorations, and inventive mind. His diverse talents and imaginative thinking exemplify creativity across multiple disciplines.
  • Pablo Picasso: Picasso’s innovative and influential approach to art, particularly through his development of Cubism, challenged traditional artistic conventions and expanded the boundaries of visual expression.
  • Marie Curie: Marie Curie’s pioneering work in radioactivity and her groundbreaking discoveries in physics and chemistry demonstrate her innovative and creative approach to scientific research.
  • Albert Einstein: Einstein’s revolutionary theories in physics, including the theory of relativity, transformed our understanding of the universe. His ability to think beyond conventional boundaries and imagine new possibilities exemplifies creative thinking.
  • William Shakespeare: Shakespeare’s literary works, such as his plays and sonnets, showcase his exceptional storytelling abilities, linguistic creativity, and profound insights into human nature.

These are just a few examples, and there are many other individuals throughout history who have made significant creative contributions in their respective fields.

It’s important to note that creativity can manifest in various domains, including arts, sciences, literature, philosophy, and more. Each person’s creativity is unique and shaped by their context, cultural influences, and personal experiences. Defining the “most creative” person ultimately depends on individual perspectives and the specific criteria used to evaluate creativity.

Traits of Creative People

Here are twelve traits that creative people possess and use in their daily lives, as discussed at indeed.com:

  • Curious
  • Playful
  • Open-minded
  • Flexible
  • Sensitive
  • Independent
  • Risk-taking
  • Intuitive
  • Thorough
  • Ambitious
  • Objective
  • Energetic

Creative Personality Traits often appear in apparently opposite personality types.

  • Introverts and Extroverts
  • Intuitive and Observant Personalities
  • Feeling and Thinking Personalities
  • Prospecting and Judging Personalities
  • Assertive and Turbulent Personalities

In short, by my reading, any personality type can be creative, though not always by the same means.

“Creative people like to daydream and imagine the possibilities and wonders of the world. They can immerse themselves in imagination and fantasy, yet remain grounded enough to turn their daydreams into reality. They are often described as dreamers, but that doesn’t mean that they live with their heads in the clouds.”

Kendra Cherry, MSEd, from Very Well Mind

Downside to Imagination

Although imagination is necessary for creativity, not all imagining is productive. An individual with an overactive imagination is one whose tendency to focus on their fantasies is so frequent and central to their waking hours, as to distract them from actually working toward achieving their own goals, or developing real-life, fulfilling relationships.

There is a strong overlap between imagined and hallucinatory phenomena in the sense that both are internal representations of external things that are not present at the time.

Some people actually develop fantasy-prone personalities. Cases of FPP have a harder time distinguishing between external reality and their own, internal fantasies. They have also been found to be more easily hypnotized than the general population.

The ability to imagine—and then dwell on—things that are not actually happening can contribute to mental health problems such as anxiety and delusions.

But imagination can also play a powerful role in healing. Guided imagery can be used to help with pain, sleep, nausea, anxiety, anger and fatigue.

Bottom Line: As far as I can determine, there is no downside to creativity, whereas imagination is a two-
edged sword.

MY ANNUAL FAMILY BEACH READS BLOG

Posted on by vlaw759

As many of you know, my definition of a beach read is anything that is read while at the beach. So here we go, reads from my family beach week. This year we were twelve, ages 14-92. (For favorites of younger readers, see the latter part of this blog.)

Although a lot of required reading happened for an online master’s program in public health, I’ll spare you that list.

Without further ado, here are the pleasure reads, with comments when any were made. These fall into two categories: Brought Here and Found Here.

Brought Here

Found Here

For the Younger Crowd

Because my family isn’t getting any younger, I reached out to a friend for what her young relatives (ages 1 to 7) are enjoying. There’s been a bit of a theme all summer, even before they went to the beach!

Beach read
Beach read

Bottom Line: “Beach read” could mean any books read at the beach or books to prepare to go to the beach!

YOUR TOXIC ENVIRONMENT

Posted on by vlaw759

Not the air you breathe, not the water you drink, not asbestos in your house or lead based paint. I’m talking about toxic people in your life! As part of Mental Health Awareness Month, let’s talk a bit about how to recognize the toxic people in your life and what to do about them.

Toxic People

Toxic People: 10 Ways of Dealing with People Who Make You Miserable by Dr Lillian Glass

A toxic person is anyone whose behavior adds negativity and upset to your life. Lillian Glass first used the term in her 1995 book Toxic People: 10 Ways of Dealing With People Who Make You Miserable.

I’m not the first to recognize the threat toxic people pose to one’s well-being. Clinical psychologists and other counselors frequently see people struggling with toxic people in their lives. And there are a ton of self-help books out there.

In 2018 Oxford Dictionaries named “toxic” as its Word of the Year, citing a 45% increase in look-ups of the word and an expansion in the scope of its application.

Toxic people are more common than you may think.

Researchers suggest that toxic people represent possibly 5-10% of the population and maybe cause 95% of the damage to humans. Toxic friendships are all too common: 84% of women and 75% of men report having a toxic friend at some point.

A 2015 study suggests that, though men and women may display toxic personality traits differently, toxic personality shows up equally across the entire population.

Identifying Toxic People

Difficult Mothers by Terri Apter

Your own gut reaction to toxic people will likely warn you to limit interactions with them. From WebMD, here are some warning signs that you’re dealing with a toxic person:

  • You feel like you’re being manipulated into something you don’t want to do.
  • You’re constantly confused by the person’s behavior.
  • You feel like you deserve an apology that never comes.
  • You always have to defend yourself to this person.
  • You never feel fully comfortable around them.
  • You continually feel bad about yourself in their presence.
  • You consistently dread spending time in this person’s company.

Just like there are signs you’re around a toxic person because of how the person makes you feel, there are signs you might see in toxic people themselves that highlight their toxicity.

The Covert Passive-Aggressive Narcissist by Debbie Mirza

The most common signs include:

  • Toxic people are often controlling, wanting his/her way in matters large and small. They often say, “You should….”
  • They are unwilling to compromise, even on seemingly minor issues.
  • Toxic people are typically highly critical.
  • Their mood toward you seems to run hot and cold, i.e., they are inconsistent.
  • Their “wounded ego” constantly needs bolstering.
  • Toxic people are often narcissistic, focusing mostly on themselves.
  • They tend to exaggerate.
  • They are preoccupied with projecting an idealized image, whether that’s of a perfect family, a benevolent philanthropist, or simple physical attractiveness.
  • They have a negative attitude about other people and about life in general.
  • They often abuse alcohol or other substances.
  • They don’t respect the boundaries of others, sometimes physically, more often psychologically; i.e., making plans on others’ behalf, not keeping secrets, bringing up hurtful topics.
  • They expect others to “know” or guess what they need without actually asking for it (and then take offense when those needs are not met).
  • They’ll use non-toxic words but in a toxic tone of voice.
  • They will never admit to their own wrong-doing.
  • Through all their stories, they are always the victim.
  • They’re judgmental and not afraid to share.

So How Do These People Get into Your Life?

Toxic Parents by Dr Susan Forward
  • Friend by History:
    • This is a person whom you have known forever.
      • Maybe you went to elementary school together, or you were neighbors growing up.
    • Now you feel guilty ending the relationship.
  • Friend by Proximity:
    • This is a person who comes as a package with someone else in your life.
      • Maybe it’s your partner’s best friend, or your friend’s brother who always tags along, or your best friend’s childhood friend.
    • You feel guilty because you don’t want to put “your” person in an awkward situation.
  • Friend by Context:
    • This is a person who you see all the time in a specific area of your life
      • Someone you work with everyday, maybe someone on your flag football team or someone who lives across the hall, perhaps someone in your bridge group.
    • You feel guilty brushing them off because you see them all the dang time.

How Toxic People Negatively Impact You?

The negative effect toxic people can have on those around them goes both deep and far. And it’s not just personal: a toxic employee or manager can negatively impact their entire business.

Emotional Vampires: Dealing with People Who Drain You Dry by Dr Albert Bernstein
  • As Babita Spinelli, L.P., J.D. explains, toxic people will find ways to blame you for everything, control you, suffocate you, and invalidate you, which can lead you to abandon yourself.
  • When a toxic person has a hold on you, you’ll find yourself accommodating them, making poor choices, and getting caught in drama. This all leads to an overall diminishing of self-esteem and self-worth, and even anxiety and depression, says Spinelli.
  • A more insidious effect of toxic people is that they’re energy vampires, meaning they seem to drain the very life out of people around them just with their presence. “They cause you a lot of distress that you may even justify because you can’t understand why it’s affecting you so badly,” Perpetua Neo, DClinPsy notes, adding that toxic people will often make you question your reality.
  • Children with toxic parents can develop a variety of mental traumas as they grow up, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, hypochondria, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorders.
  • Children surrounded by toxic adults may grow up to be toxic adults themselves.
  • Teachers with toxic personalities can harm students’ academic performance, interest in school, and self-esteem.
  • Toxic employees can cost a company revenue and hurt an organization’s reputation both with customers and within an industry.
  • Toxic bosses decrease employee productivity, increase employee absenteeism and turnover, and have an overall negative impact on the entire organization where they work.

Are You a Toxic Person?

Could you be a toxic person? Take this quick test from Truity:

It is simply a fact that I am smarter than the average person.

InaccurateAccurate
12345

People who want to get close to me need to understand that I have strong emotions and that I must be true to myself.

InaccurateAccurate
12345

Most people spend too much time and energy trying to achieve goals that don’t really matter.

InaccurateAccurate
12345

Everyone lies—I’m just better at it than most.

InaccurateAccurate
12345

The best way to avoid being disappointed is to expect the worst.

InaccurateAccurate
12345

I often have to push people to do things in a way that meets my high standards.

InaccurateAccurate
12345

I do not like to be treated like one of the crowd.

InaccurateAccurate
12345
The Highly Sensitive Person’s Guide to Dealing with Toxic People by Shahida Arabi

If any of this sounds like you, don’t despair! Most people do not have a permanent, entrenched personality disorder; they may be simply going through particularly toxic phases. The first step to fixing a problem is generally admitting that the problem exists. Deliberate efforts on your part to shift your perspective and your responses to those around you can help you break toxic patterns of behavior.

As Hannah Baer writes, “Research demonstrates that believing others have fixed traits which don’t change (including, say, “toxic” personality pathology) yields defensiveness, failure to listen, and failure to set boundaries (because what good can it do if they can’t change?).”

On the other hand, you might recognize someone you know in this quiz. Many times, people who are toxic are dealing with their own stresses and traumas. To do this, they act in ways that don’t present them in the best light and usually upset others along the way. Or maybe it’s just the alcohol! But you are not the therapist for such family members, friends, coworkers, neighbors… Attend to your own well-being first.

How to Deal with Toxic People

In Sheep’s Clothing: Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People by Dr George Simon

Paracelsus, a 16th century Swiss physician and philosopher, famously said, “Dosis sola facit venenum (Only the dose makes the poison).” Though his claim that poisons can cause harm only if ingested in a high enough concentration may not be entirely true for toxic chemicals, it is a good guiding principle when dealing with toxic people.

There is a chance that the person is not genuinely toxic and is just reacting to particularly high levels of stress in their own life. In this case, you might be able to bring their toxic behavior to light, leading them to change on their own.

  • Confront the person about the toxic behavior. This is best done in a calm, non-argumentative way. For example, “When you do/say X, I feel Y.”
  • In the case of someone you’ve known for a while, ask yourself if their behavior has always been problematic or if it has become more toxic over time. If the person has become more toxic, you may be able to have a discussion about what has changed, when it changed, and whether it might change back.
  • Discuss the negative behavior you’ve noticed, including specifics.
  • Often, a person displays toxic behavior in response to power imbalances in a relationship, such as a work supervisor or a parent. In such cases, addressing the unequal power in the relationship might remove the trigger for toxic behavior.

If you realize that you are unlikely to cause a genuinely toxic person to change their personality in any fundamental way, your best option may be to minimize your “dose” of exposure.

Whole Again: Healing Your Heart and Rediscovering Your True Self After Toxic Relationships and Emotional Abuse by Jackson MacKenzie
  • Set and enforce clear boundaries.
  • Spend as little time as possible with the person.
  • Change the subject when they bring up problematic conversation topics.
  • Limit conversation to relevant topics. For example, only talk to a toxic coworker about work-related topics. With a problematic bridge partner, only discuss future bridge games or strategies.
  • Leave yourself options for escaping bad encounters if necessary.
  • If your boundaries aren’t respected, follow through with concrete actions, including breaking off contact.

It may be best to break off all contact with a toxic person, preserving your own sanity and peace of mind.

  • Stop all meet-ups, phone calls, messages, social media connections, etc.
  • Avoid reminiscing about the “good times” or reliving painful memories.
  • Don’t give in to the urge to look them up online or ask mutual acquaintances about them.
  • Focus on personal healing and self-care.
  • Maintain healthy and supportive relationships with others.

Bottom Line: Purge your life of toxic people. You know who they are!

IF IT CAN GO WRONG, IT CAN GET WORSE

Posted on by vlaw759

A pessimist tends to see the worst aspect of things, to believe that the worst will happen, often accompanied by a lack of hope or confidence in the future. Sometimes I think watching the news is enough to make anyone pessimistic—and the more we watch, the more hopeless everything seems!

But then, again, everyone is different.

A pessimist knows this to be true in their soul.

What’s So Bad About Pessimism? Let Us Count the Ways!

One article at BetterHelp discusses five ways pessimism can harm you—and here they are.

  • A Pessimistic Attitude Can Hurt Relationships. Pessimists often have a hard time trusting other people. They assume the worst in others, sometimes making unfair accusations. They usually expect a relationship to fail, so planning a future together seems pointless.
  • Pessimism Can Hurt Physical Health. The mind/body connection is well established in science. In the case of pessimists, their behaviors often don’t support good health. “For example, studies have found that pessimistic people are less likely to diet, exercise, or see a doctor when they need. They are also more likely to smoke.”
  • A Pessimistic Mentality Can Hurt Your Career. Pessimistic people are more likely to give up when they encounter a difficult situation at work, are less likely to learn valuable lessons from their mistakes at work, and are more likely to create unwanted workforce drama.
  • Pessimism Affects Self-Esteem And Confidence. It seems to me that the connection here is obvious and needs no elaboration.
  • Pessimism Is Harmful To Mental Health. Although, technically, it isn’t a mental health disorder, pessimistic thoughts can closely mimic symptoms of some disorders. Pessimistic thoughts and emotions—such as anxiety, worry, anger, rage, or depression—cause the pessimist to suffer.

A study published in 2020 found that people who are strongly pessimistic about the future are at greater risk of dying earlier than those who are not pessimists, on average two years earlier—but contrary to previous studies, being an optimist didn’t extend life expectancy.

Another study found that the most pessimistic people are 21.8 percent less happy than realists.

Symptoms of a Pessimist

Although not a mental illness, pessimism (having a generally negative view of life and the world around them) is a personality trait—that is, it endures. The following list of ways to determine whether you are a pessimist comes from VeryWellMind. Clearly, you can also use these “symptoms” to identify pessimists around you.

  • You feel surprised when things actually work out.
  • You don’t go after what you want because you think you will probably fail.
  • You tend to focus on what can go wrong in a situation.
  • You think that the risks almost always outweigh the benefits.
  • You experience imposter syndrome and undervalue your abilities.
  • You tend to concentrate on your flaws or weaknesses rather than your strengths.
  • You often feel annoyed by people who have an optimistic demeanor.
  • You often engage in negative self-talk.
  • You assume that all good things will eventually come to an end.
  • You find it easier to live with the status quo than change things for the better.

And bad news for smart people: intelligent people tend to be more aware of situational complexities and so are more likely to worry and/or be pessimistic. As philosopher Antonio Gramsci said, “I’m a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.”

Eeyore Pessimist
Eeyore the Donkey
Charlie Brown Pessimist
Charlie Brown
Oscar the Grouch Pessimist
Oscar the Grouch
Pessimism for Children

On the Other Hand: The Up Side of Pessimism

The pessimistic realization that not everything is moving in the right direction helps one rationalize the personal shortcomings we all have. Realizing that things outside one’s control could be the cause of problems is a comforting feeling, so people are attracted to it.

A true pessimist is never without a full hazmat suit.

Pessimists are often better prepared for tough times and may avoid risks that more optimistic thinkers might take.

Research has shown that pessimists tend to foresee obstacles more readily because they expect things to go wrong, meaning that they are more likely to plan for difficulties.

Pessimism can actually be a positive thing when it helps identify — or even anticipate — problems at work.

Also, being pessimistic can be helpful in that one won’t feel shocked when challenges arise; rather, they will be expected and can be prepared for.

A pessimist is a good choice for a leader when making financial forecasts in a challenging season. Any leader who has led through tough times will tell you the first step to stop the bleeding is by taking a worst-case scenario approach to budgeting.

One sort-of-related study found that while most successful entrepreneurs will call themselves optimists, optimistic entrepreneurs earn 30% less than pessimistic ones on average.

Defensive pessimism is considered a coping technique used by individuals who set low expectations for situations regardless of prior success. These negative expectations are used to alleviate anxiety about situations by motivating them to plan ways to avoid the chances of poor outcomes. Essentially, defensive pessimists expect and plan for the worst case scenario as a means to avoid it. And it works.

Advantages of Defensive Pessimism

  • Increased levels of self-esteem
  • More satisfaction
  • Better academic performance
  • More support
  • Better progress towards their goals
Cyanide and Happiness

Optimism is considered by many to be the opposite of pessimism. And although there are some benefits to pessimism, I don’t recommend it as a life choice.

  • Optimists experience less distress than pessimists when dealing with difficulties in their lives.
  • Optimists suffer much less anxiety and depression.
  • Optimists adapt better to negative events (including coronary artery bypass surgery, breast cancer, abortion, bone marrow transplantation and AIDS).

(Watch this space for an upcoming blog on optimism!)

Bottom Line: Be aware of pessimistic tendencies and assess their helpfulness in a given situation.