Pessimism is a problem. Just not your problem?

We all know her. She tells you the exact amount of calories in the food your eating, while you are eating it. When it rains, she updates her facebook about how miserable she is. When it's nice out, you get to hear about how unbearable the heat is. She'll criticize every decision you make and disagrees with absolutely everything you have to say. She's the human equivalent to rain on your wedding day, and a death row pardon, two minutes too late. She's Debbie Downer, and she's a major burden to us all.

Often, she masquerades as a a perfect person, and chooses the one thing in her life that is superior to everyone ( her morals, home, wealth, body etc.) and preaches about it constantly. She's a walking, talking contradiction and may even reprimand you in the most hypocritical way possible. There's the time she told you not to take that nice vacation you want, calling it "irresponsible in this economy", and then bitching about her credit card debt, after telling you all about her fabulous trip to the Caribbean.

Or the time she pointed out, ever so nonchalantly, that your boyfriend/husband/guy you just met must have done something wrong for sending you flowers, when hers just left her for his ex last month. She's very vocal about how lame the crowd is at the bar or restaurant you picked for your birthday/girls night out/happy hour, just because she didn't pick the location, and she wants to go home and is tired/has a headache/starts to cry uncontrollably before you even arrive.

Often, her presence in our life is not negotiable. We don't choose to spend time with someone who gets pleasure out of our misery or aims to knock us off our pedestal. The best we can do, is see past the negativity and refuse to let it permeate our lives. In my experience, people who do this are the first to complain and the last to make any effort to improve a situation. Everyone knows the reason for their misery, except themselves of course, and no amount of pointing it out to them will change their demeanor. So next time Debbie tries to inform you that your morning venti, skinny, no foam, extra hot latte causes cancer, or that your nightly glass of pinot clearly signifies an alcohol problem, remind her that pessimism is a mental illness and drink 2.