Toxic Positivity

Introduction

Everyone likes positivity, most of the celebs we follow, or the sportsperson we admire, or the politician we praise are often associated with positivity.

You would have probably heard about the popular saying "If you aren’t being positive, then you’re doing something wrong  ", which for most of us is true but is it?

SO to become famous almost all the so-called celebrities gain your attention through their social media page and to increase their followers they make people excited about their content by showering some fake positivity. They portrait their image as they are the happiest person alive, flaunt about their skills and money but in reality, they are not that fun to be around. It is one of the main flaws in our society that we judge people by the number of their followers or by the content they post, we just assume they are doing great with their life, they have their life figured out but it is not always the case.

Reality

Because of this recent toxic trend people don't know how to evaluate things, most of us see a situation from its face value rather than evaluating the situation practically. We mainly focus on the silver lining of the situation and we criticized people who make rational decisions based on their practicality. The main reason why people behave like this is because of shots of dopamine which they get from spreading positivity(Dopamine is a feel-good hormone).

Solution

But it doesn't mean that you have to be negative, let me explain.

 There is a saying in Gita that "Everything which is been done in moderation is good for you and your mind".We have to maintain a perfect balance, We don't have to be in extremes ends in other words we don't have to be always negative or always positive. It is not good for us, we don't have to suppress any of the emotions, if we feel sad we should talk to someone or at least be with your problems, try to evaluate them, try to have an unbiased decision. The more you suppressed your thoughts the stronger it gets, just simply tell yourself the truth, do agree that the situation is bad or good.

This way of thinking may save you from anxiety or in worse cases clinical depression. If your friend is not feeling well rather than saying "Just be positive, it will be fine". Just say the  following phrases:

 “I’m sorry to hear what you’re going through. How can I help?”

 “I know you’re going through a tough time. But I also know you’re strong. I believe in you.”

 “It’s normal to feel overwhelmed and confused in your situation. We’ll make sense of things later. Today, let’s just focus on taking the first step.”

 “ I don’t know what to say, but I’m here for you.”

 “It’s never fun to feel down. Is there anything you can do today that will make you feel a little better?”

 “ You’re not wrong for feeling the way you do, and no one blames you for it.”

 “I know it’s difficult, but you’re doing a great job handling this.”

 “That sucks. What can I do to help?”

 “When you’ve done all you could, sometimes giving up is the right thing to do. How would you like things to turn out? Is there any other way that you can make that happen?”

Remember

The only difference between us and animals is our thoughts, use it properly