When the water is at half in the cup, you can have a debate about whether it’s half full or half empty. In reality, both of these are okay and neither of them are particularly unhealthy. They’re both the truth. Who cares what side of the glass you’re talking about.
There’s a tendency though on both sides to over-dramatize how much is actually in the cup. In general, I’m more of a glass-half-full person. I like to look on the positive side in most situations. The weakness I then have is looking at a glass ¼ full and calling it half full. I want so badly for the cup to be half full that I become delusional to how much is actually in there.
I convince myself that the glass is half full and even after seeing the glass flipped upside down I pretend that it’s half full. It comes from a good desire. A glass that’s empty doesn’t help anyone. I know that it will be better if it’s full, so that’s what I see.
But is everything I just said true? A glass that’s empty…does that really not help anyone?
Perhaps not in itself, but it reveals to you how to help. If we go around believing that the glass is full, there’s no need to fill it up. There’s no need to pay extra attention to it. No need to take the necessary steps to fix the situation. In reality, believing an empty cup is full is believing a lie, and if you begin telling others that it’s full, you’re spreading a lie.
Whether it’s people, circumstances, or anything, it’s so important to be grounded in exactly what the truth is. Sometimes the glass is half full, sometimes it’s ⅛ full. It can look pretty grim. But realizing right away the glass isn’t where you want it to be is so much easier than going on believing it’s full and then finding out when you go to take a drink that it’s empty.
Knowing an answer right away is much better than believing something that’s not true, even if the answer isn’t something you want to hear.