pessimistic

That’s when a bracing pessimistic philosophy is called for, the sort that says: Of course you’re miserable, you’re alive.

There is equal comfort to be found by running the argument in a pessimistic direction.

We would take measures to stay pessimistic about how things turn out; we would remind ourselves on an hourly basis that all relationships are riven with pain, all business ventures are maddening, and all families are demented.

But we are perhaps suffering unnecessarily and might find reassurance in the strategic use of two kinds of thinking, alternately optimistic and pessimistic in tone.