My beloved has, I often think, a problem mindset. Where I gravitate towards solutions, they are quick to point out issues without offering (or even thinking about) how to solve them. This can be very frustrating and I’ve tried to nudge change around this in the past. When I step back from the irritation of feeling blocked, slowed or pointedly questioned, I can see the value in their mindset around crucial moments, though.

As a default state, I choose optimism. That will sometimes stray into boundless (you might say reckless) optimism and would take us on a course that turns out to be ill-advised. This is where the problem mindset is helpful. Issues that need (at least) considering are brought up, that I’d otherwise be blind to. Correcting course or plotting a different route entirely avoids the potholes I was almost wilfully not looking at.

It’s not that one way of thinking is better than the other – a good balance, as with many things, is simply a great help.