Cynic

You could say that a cynic is ostensibly a disappointed idealist.

They were optimistic starting out in life but were burned enough times such that their positivity melted into resignation that says "there is no point in getting one's hopes up" 

As we get older we have had our share of deception and it's very tempting to feel deep disappointment. I work on the balance point between my knowledge of humanity and the variability that it produces yields both the best and the worst of us. 

In that sense I don't consider myself a cynic but instead a person who recognizes what's coming from a long distance by virtue of my life experience. 

I don't hold out false hope but neither do I dismiss things in advance before knowing what I am facing and give the benefit of the doubt first. 

Experience doesn't need to breed cynicism but that doesn't mean we don't burn off a naiveté which doesn't serve us well at all in this life.