Some people call themselves realistic when pessimism has simply become familiar enough to sound intelligent.

Expecting the worst gets treated as clear-sightedness, largely because it sounds more sophisticated than hope and is rarely challenged. But a habit is not an assessment. If your forecast is always the same regardless of the situation, it is not tracking anything; it has simply become the shape your thinking takes, and it happens to be socially rewarded as wisdom.

Check your record. Note what you expected to go badly over the past year and what actually happened. If your pessimism has not been more accurate than a coin, it is a disposition rather than an insight, and it is costing you things you never attempted.