Naïve

Word: Naïve

Definition: Showing a lack of experience, wisdom, or judgment; marked by simple trust.

Original Attempt (excerpt):
“An axe can’t be that hard to use or that dangerous? … Raise axe over your head. Swing down and chop. Easy.”

The Gap:
This is ignorance, not naivety. Naïve is not about failing to see danger in tools — it is about failing to see danger in people, in intentions, in the world. It carries a sweetness, not technical cluelessness.

Rewrite (embodied):
Naïve is giving your heart to the first person who says “I love you,” believing they mean it forever. It is loaning money you will never see again because someone promised to pay you back. It is the wide-eyed trust that others live by the same honesty you do.

Rewrite (visceral):
You may tend to be overly positive about your own abilities and the positive outcomes of situations, often expecting the best. You might find yourself believing what people tell you without much questioning, trusting too easily, having a childlike simplicity in worldview, a tendency to believe in things without question, and disappointments when reality does not match hopes.

Expansion:

Question:
Do you think that hoping for the best in negative situations is being naïve?