Top 10 Signs You Have Become Cynical

 Ah, the good old days when life was so much simpler and everything was planned out for you. When you are a kid, you have someone sorting out all the messy stuff for you and all you have to do is willfully comply.

You didn’t have to navigate the world all by yourself. You didn’t have to make your own friends all the time. Sometimes your parents told you who you should be friends with. Your meals are all planned out, your schedule is all sorted out and everything is organized.

Things start to come apart only when you get older and get that independence you were always dreaming about. While the first step into the world may seem exciting and brave, soon enough you experience the mess you were protected from when you were a kid.

The world is no longer sunshine and rainbows. Not everyone is your friend and people can be difficult to handle. The more you go through these experiences, the tougher you get and the more instincts and intuition you develop regarding situations and people.

And then one day you’ll be sitting idly, frowning at people, and wondering when did you become so cynical?

Here are the Top 10 Signs You Have Become Cynical

1) People being nice to you? They’re obviously up to something.

Once upon a time you believed that people were kind-hearted and even if they were grumpy, deep inside, they had a heart of gold and cared about you.

Those were fairytales. As you grew older, you realized that not everyone has a heart of gold and you may have even experienced people who you thought were your friends, were simply using you.

And so those experiences have caused you to become skeptical of people’s intentions. Especially when someone who has barely spoken to you, suddenly starts to earnestly keep in touch with you.

Are they up to something? Or have they finally decided they genuinely want you to be a part of their lives?

2) Rolling your eyes most of the time

Rolling your eyes is the most obvious way to show you are totally not buying into whatever the other person is trying to serve you. It could be the little lies that are transparent or the way a person tries to divert attention from an error and avoid being blamed.

Soon enough, the rolling eyes gesture extends to other situations. One minute you’re watching a rom-com that used to be entertaining and now they are just unbearable.

The soon-to-be-lovers fall on each other. Or at least one of them falls. The cliched storylines become unbearable because you now know that these situations and these people would not survive outside the screen.

People simply don’t behave like this in real life and in your mind you are probably wondering when the writers are going to update their stories.

3) You use sarcasm

There was a time when your replies were detailed or factual. Now that you know that people don’t take you seriously enough or follow your advice or hear your opinion, you’ve become cynical when others come to you for advice.

One minute you are listening to someone narrate their story, and the next you reply with a cynical remark that is usually about how you don’t buy into their elaborate lies.

And then you find yourself being amused when you try to guess whether the other person understood your sarcasm or not.

4) You can’t take a compliment

Compliments are no longer like rainbows and sunshine anymore. They don’t brighten your day anymore. Rather you find yourself immediately wondering why the person has offered you a compliment. Just what are they up to?

And now they are expecting a compliment in return, aren’t they? That’s why they’ve complimented you in the first place, isn’t it?

Cynicism will make it harder for you to trust anyone is actually offering you a genuine compliment.

5) You have stopped believing in commitments.

A celebrity is getting married? Let’s see how long it lasts.

By now you’ve seen enough breakups to know that love usually leads to heartbreak. And you know, just know that people don’t take relationships seriously anymore.

Especially when they are celebrities. There have been enough divorces reported by the media to make you stop believing that your favorite celebrity couple is going to make it to the very end.

You find yourself guessing whether this time the time limit will be six months or one year. No way, it’s going to last more than that.

6) You can’t believe the news

Unless that same news has been confirmed by a dozen different sources from global publications, you refuse to believe that this event has occurred.

You’ve begun to believe that everything is scripted. That even reporters have started to put on shows. Their hair and makeup is too perfect and so their work has been compromised.

Perhaps the news they are reporting is fake and they are being forced by people with money and power to lie to the public.

You can’t trust anyone anymore, can you?

7) You scoff at anything that comes with a guarantee card

This is the best quality product ever? In the whole world? Really?

The second you see that sign near any product, you immediately scoff. Nothing is built to last forever. Nothing. Especially that blender that will probably break into two in less than a week.

8) Had a good day? A bad one is just around the corner.

It’s hard to believe in good things when one has faced so many problems in life. And so when that cycle breaks and you have that one, unexpected good day, you find yourself suddenly put the brakes on happiness and inwardly preparing yourself for the worst day ever.

This good day is just a freebie, the calm before the storm. It’s just a little rest day before all hell breaks loose.

The good day is no longer a good day now.

9) A new business? It’s going to fail.

Only forty percent restaurants succeed in the first year of opening. That means sixty percent of them fail. Which also means that the new restaurant opening near your home is going to close down in a few months.

Every time you pass by it you shake your head in pity. They shouldn’t have spent so much money on decorations. What is the point? It is going to close down in a matter of months.

10) Social media is off-putting.

You have to be on social media just because you want an online presence for work or whatever. It does not mean you enjoy being online. You hate it. In fact you hate looking at posts from your friends.

They are putting up cute photos when you know they are just faking it. By now you know the lengths people will go to just to get a couple of likes. Or to show they are living their lives while no one else is.

But you have overheard that a colleague is separating from their spouse even though just two days ago they posted a lovey-dovey photo. Or you’ve seen a family photo and wondered how did they manage to get their five year old twins to pose quietly. No doubt they were scolded or there had been a big argument before fake smiles were plastered to take a photo for social media.

People lie, that’s all you know for sure. It is better not to trust anyone.

Being cynical may make you believe you are protecting yourself. But in the end you are also keeping yourself from giving things and people a chance.

When you are cynical, you are continuously preparing yourself for the worst or expect it rather than living in the moment and finding out what it can bring you.