I'm about to become wildly unpopular ...

[Silent3]

97. You confuse rightful, well-earned cynicism with being the same thing as giving up...

...and saying don't bother even trying. Those two things are not the same thing.

If doctors tells me I only have a 5% chance of living beyond six months, I'm going to be very upset. I'm going to take the odds against me seriously enough that I'm not going to make a lot of long-term plans, especially plans where other people depending on me would be screwed if I'm no longer alive.

That doesn't mean I would give up. So long as the trade-off isn't too steep when it comes to treatment options vs. quality of life during my likely last few months, I'd still fight like hell for that 5% chance.

I don't believe in performative optimism, where you pretend your odds are much higher than they really are, as if the universe will reward your for that performance by raising the odds in your favor, simply because you act like the odds are in your favor.