I was asked to explain what being an optimistic pessimist means to me. Quite simply to me its  being an realist or an logical person. Its realizing that there are going to be both good and bad times and accepting and embracing both. I am a person who is often identified  by others as being a pessimist because my f initial reaction in most situations is to identify if  the negative. As I like to say though it is often times easier to identify the negative simply because in most situations it is that that is glaring or thats being presented to you. For me the optimisim comes because despite the fact that the negativity may be all around I am willing to search for the positivity that is being veiled. So if you are  a person who has the ability to trudge through negativity and seek out the positive in all situations you too are an optimistic pessimist.