There is, it is sad to say, a considerable amount to be miserable about in a recession; anyone who says otherwise is perhaps being a little dishonest with themselves.
That said, there is also a great deal to be happy about - the glass is always half full as well as half empty, it's all just a matter of perspective.
For New York's Upper West Siders, it appears that the glass is half full.
A recent article featured on the New York Times' website entitled Upper West Side Businesses Are Still Standing, and Grateful pays tribute to a collection of city folk who have not only survived the recession, but remain extremely thankful for it.
Carol Baer, owner of Popover Café, was said to have had it particularly rough. As well as tending to a wounded business, she had lost her entire life's savings to the infamous Bernie Madoff.
It was perhaps her restaurants notoriety that allowed it to survive, having been in business for 28 years.
Whatever the reason, survive it did. Rather than dwell on the could-have-beens or dream of the more successful days of yesteryear, Mrs Baer is simply pleased to still be running and is now looking to the future.
To help her along her way are a number of other Upper West Side businesses in very similar predicaments - all shaken by the past, but very much with glasses half full.
Testament to this is the looming Neighbourhood Gratitude Day, as Mrs Baer's window proudly displays.
The day is simple: local shops and businesses decorate their premises and put on some form of community event or fun activity.
Whether that’s balloons and ball games or a raffle and some wine doesn’t matter all that much, it's the symbolic nature of it that is all-important and that feeling that not matter what economic woes are thrown at them, the community will endure.
It does of course help that the initiative is also a very savvy marketing scheme - get the community out to play and they will invariably pay.
Freebies may be handed out on the day, but those companies that put in the customer service will no-doubt appreciate a few return visits and perhaps find themselves, in time, working their way back to the 'good old days'.
Whether extra revenue is generated or the community simply has a great day out, one thing is certain: Mrs Baer and her fellow Upper West Siders will all be drinking from half-full glasses.
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