Toxic Positivity Is Real
Here’s what you can do to protect your sanity.
It’s easy to tell when you’re in the presence of toxic positivity.
Shame for feeling sad or negative starts trickling into your consciousness.
You’re told to “just snap out of it” or “be grateful for everything you have” because “things could be worse” and well, “that’s just how it is”.
The temptation to brush off any discomfort you’re feeling is overpowering simply because you know that sharing how you feel is just going to open the floodgates of sarcasm and invalidation.
Open debate or discussion is discouraged or swept under the rug to make more room for sugar-coated happy, overly optimistic vibes because hey, people who don’t feel and act as if life’s all rainbows and unicorns all the time just ruin the party (because that’s what life is) for everyone else.
Worse still, you might just be labeled as selfish and self-absorbed for trying to change the status quo.
If you’ve ever found yourself in situations like this, you’ll realize that yes, toxic positivity is very real.
Here’s what you need to know about it, and what you can do to keep your sanity intact when you can’t escape:
