Happy Birthday My Dear Friend

Cup is half full or is it half empty

So, with Dalgona coffee flooding our feed. Recipes and videos being shared left, right and center and friendships made or broken on the thickness of froth. I wonder what we see with it….I mean is it a cup filled with coffee or the empty part left by milk is filled with coffee. Now that is a thing to truly ponder.

As we all have ample of time in our hands to tag each other in challenges. Time to read that dusty books, time to clean the wardrobe or overall time to unwind and catch up with things we always neglected due to time. Let me throw in my two cents and decide once and for all whether the cup is half full or is it half empty.

Now over the time, I have got many answers like if you are an optimist it is half filled, a pessimist, on the other hand, sees it half empty and an opportunist will fill the space. So clearly we can find our personalities by just pointing out the situation.

Fair enough; how you see a situation can judge how you perceive life and further are you capable of taking the problem as an opportunity. But, is it enough?

The problem here is…are we as a human simple enough to be judged so easily. For me, the answer will always be NO. So hear me out.

We as a human are a bundle of complex emotions and thoughts. We act and react differently to every situation. Yes, an optimist sees the positives and the pessimist sees the negative. 

• But, be honest and tell me that none of you, however optimistic had a negative thought at the back of our minds?
• Have you not failed badly, even if you have been a 100 percent optimistic? 
• Have we not once had given up optimism because it was too much?

On the other hand, can you fully say that a pessimist has never seen a glimmer of hope in a dire situation? 

Or

 Never had the smallest ounce of belief or faith in a situation where they only saw negative consequences?

If you answered any of the above YES, then let me introduce you to the concept of the

façade.

So, the thing is we as a social animal always crave to be a part of a group that looks up to us or be a loner to keep away from getting hurt. So, we create an exterior, an image of ourselves which we think will follow the norms laid by society and we constantly put in the effort to keep up to it.

But, when we sit alone we get conflicting thoughts because we are unable to truly see our own image. We fear to remove that façade to protect ourselves. We train ourselves to act a certain way to keep the image intact and hence, even if we want to scream half empty to a glass of water, we simply answer half full.

The only way to look at it is to be accepting of our flaws and also to accept others the way they are. The only solution is to create an environment where people have no inhibitions and are not afraid to express their weaknesses.

We need to accept that every situation is different and everyone has an underlying fear. It is a world full of grey personalities and we should never force someone to become black or white. Let’s agree to build each other up with our strength and never to make fun of someone’s weaknesses.

Then and only then we can see a world in all dimensions. Then and only then we can become human.

So, whether your cup is half full or your friend sees it half empty let’s share and drink the water, hydrate and face the problems together.

"We need to quit arguing about whether the glass is half full or half empty - and instead acknowledge that there's not quite enough water to go around. "-Kate Brown