Giving up

"I totally failed."
"I did really bad."
"I bombed the test."

I hate, hate, HATE, the pessimism and defeatist attitude that's so prevalent nowadays. What the heck happened to the optimistic and cheerful times? IB happened, that's what.

In all seriousness though, many people that are in high school that I've met have a tendency to undermine themselves. And what bugs me more than the fact that those people are being so pessimistic to begin with is the fact that a good majority of those people have little reason to be concerned.

Why? Why are people so willing to write themselves off as failures? Does it set their expectations low enough to the point where success will permanently lighten them up? Is it maybe modesty - trying to make them appear not as smart as they are? Is it maybe to prevent themselves to look more loftier than they are? I doubt any of those are the answer. It all comes down to self-doubt - confidence is something that's lacking nowadays. But why? Is there even a reason? Even those that study for hours on end will think they aren't ready. What kind of paranoia is this? Are we accepting that we students are made to only constantly spit out grades?

Maybe this sounds ranty, maybe even hypocritical - I know I underplay my own talents a lot. But still, this defeatist attitude has got to change. Even if we can't get an A, we still have other things that make us amazing. Right?