Settle for Less Toxic Positivity

As an optimist and someone who believes in the power of positive psychology, I feel it is necessary to warn against toxic positivity.

Our explanatory style, how we frame life's issues as stable vs. unstable, global vs. local, and internal vs. external, helps us manage our stress and build happiness. However, it is unhealthy to deny emotions such as sadness and anger.

Like life itself, positivity needs to be balanced. Staying focused on possibility does not have to mean forgoing disappointment. Positivity becomes toxic when it causes shame and guilt, denies authentic human emotions, and prevents growth.

Settle for less toxic positivity, so you can feel all your emotions, empathize with others, own your mistakes, and move forward knowing growth, even when painful, is always possible.

I settle for less toxic positivity by choosing my words (what I say to myself and others). Words seldom make things magically better, but they can help build connections that will.