It shouldn’t be very confusing which to take. We don’t have to choose one over the other. We can have both.

When you ask someone who is worried too much about the future to think more positively, he usually says that he prefers to be realistic about the situation—as if being realistic is the opposite of being optimistic. Fire and water are not opposite of each other but they are two different substances with different features. We can use both in various situations and sometimes even together. For example, you can boil water with fire to make tea.

Being realistic is essential for success and so is being optimistic. We need to learn how to keep both.