One of the things I've always found fascinating is the extend to which stereotypes have their foundation in reality.

Like the saying "misery loves company."

As a young person (I'm nearing 60) I was very oriented to a pessimistic "nothing good will ever come from this" approach to life. Which — in some sense — granted me membership to a "club" of people who sat around and moped about things... and I felt a sense of belonging.

Took a while to figure out that it was the wrong reason to belong to pretty much anything.