Toxic Positivity, Why Pretending to be OK is So Bad

The Honest Hour Podcast

According to Thetab.com, “The phrase toxic positivity is the culture of portraying yourself as being happy no matter what. You are basically switched off to anything which might be viewed as negative. It's also the idea of encouraging people to always see the bright side, and not open up about anything bad.”

And I think that, in the culture of positivity and ‘look on the bright side’ that we are all living in now, it is time we have an open conversation about the harmful flip side of this in our communities.

I have ALWAYS been one to err on the side of glass half full, see the positive, find the silver lining, give the benefit of the doubt, root for the underdog, etc. But I have NEVER been about denial, falsity, superficiality, or downright FAKE culture.

I think that by pretending to be OK when we may actually be suffering, or just facing a new challenge, we not only do ourselves a disservice, but we hurt our communities as well, especially if you have an audience or an influence.

We see this in the Mom blog culture, with "influencers", in celebrity news, in the mainstream media and, per the example I cited repeatedly on this episode of The Honest Hour, in Rachel Hollis’s narrative on marriage, namely in the Podcast she hosts with her soon to be ex-husband called “Rise Together”.

Share your positive lifestyle, share your happy thoughts, inspiring quotes, great advice, all of it. But do not preach positive when you are suffering. Do not stay silent either. Heal out loud, share your vulnerabilities, return to humanity.

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