It's impossible to be positive and happy all the time. I don't think I know of anyone (myself included!) who can turn everything into a positive, and you know what? I don't think you should…
It's easy to find people on social media talking about #goodvibesonly who talk about ONLY thinking positively. You might have a friend or acquaintance who tells you 'don't be so negative' or 'other people have it worse than you' (fyi these people can end up being a toxic influence in your life) and it can feel pretty shitty.
This is what's called 'toxic positivity' and yep too much can be harmful. Of course it's okay to be optimistic and hopeful and totally appreciative of life but we also have to feel the hard stuff in order to be authentic with ourselves and then we can move forward!
No one should ever tell you that you can't feel all your emotions, both positive and negative. You don't want to deny how you truly feel and your natural reactions to situations because life is an unpredictable ride we need to go through rather than around.
Negative emotions are an amazing opportunity to learn more about yourself!
For some people, toxic positivity can be a coping strategy and we can even employ it against ourselves! However it doesn't make the emotion go away and just suppresses it for it to resurface in other ways later.
Interestingly, a study by Ford et al (2018) found that acceptance rather than judgment of mental health experiences can lead to people attaining better psychological health because the acceptance actually helps people experience less negative emotion in the long term!
Psychological health is key to great physical health 💜 Check in with yourself and ask, am I suppressing any hard emotions? Do I have people in my life who expect me to be positive all the time without listening to how I really feel? Allow yourself to feel it all - the good, the bad, the happy, the sad, the beautiful, the ugly.. because that's what makes us human.
