My Support Forums - View Single Post - Why do some people expect you to always be happy no matter what?

Yzen · Sep 17, 2020 at 05:40 AM

I ran across this post from the author Susan David on social media and thought of this thread:

Quote:

Toxic positivity: When people default to bypassing difficult emotions in the service of fake positivity is when "toxic positivity" takes root. In organizations, toxic positivity can masquerade as "get on with it."

Just like we can get stuck in difficult emotions, we can also get stuck in the idea of "positive only" and this is fundamentally an avoidant coping strategy (a form of gaslighting oneself or others).

Telling people to "Just Be Positive" can be done with great intentions, yet the impact is one of silencing—of making it feel unsafe to speak up lest one be labeled as "negative."

When we default to "Just Be Positive" we close ourselves off to learning from difficult emotions, understanding what values emotions are signposting, and developing skills in dealing with these difficult emotions.

This "Just Be Positive" approach undermines wellbeing. It also undermines organizational agility and resilience as issues aren't able to be effectively surfaced and addressed.

The beauty and fragility of life are interwoven. This reality demands that individually—and in our organizations—we let go of these narratives of toxic positivity and become better at navigating the full range of what makes us human. Otherwise, we are in denial.